YOUNGSTOWN SCHOOLS Beachum, minister differ over petition

Beachum served as principal at the former East High School.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Lock P. Beachum Jr., Youngstown school board president, said he never signed a petition in support of naming a high school to be constructed on the city's East Side after P. Ross Berry.
But the Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, a local pastor who spearheaded a drive to have the high school bear the Berry name, showed a Vindicator reporter Beachum's signature on a copy of such a petition.
"The petition was to name one of the school buildings after P. Ross Berry, not the high school," Beachum said. "He [Macklin] misrepresented that."
"Oh no, no, no," the Rev. Mr. Macklin said. "There was only one form being circulated through the community. Mr. Beachum signed it in my presence, at my church.
"It's inappropriate for him to say he didn't know that. He's backpedaling."
The clergyman said Beachum signed the petition at a July Juneteenth celebration at his Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church after a presentation on Berry by local historian Vincent Shivers. Berry was a black 19th-century architect and brick mason who constructed many city buildings.
At Tuesday's school board meeting, Beachum presented a resolution to call the new high school "East High School," after the school that was converted into a middle school in 1989. The resolution passed 4-3.
Comments from both sides
The motion came after several public comments in support of the East High name. Other comments were made on behalf of the Berry name, as well as for naming the high school The Rayen School. (According to district plans, the current Rayen school will be renovated into a middle school.)
Plans are to open the new school in 2005. It is part of the districtwide $182.5 million facilities improvement project. Voters approved a 4.4-mill tax issue to provide $33.2 million. The state School Facilities Commission will pay the rest.
When the project is complete, the district will have just two high schools -- East, and Chaney High School on the West Side.
The initial page of the petition Beachum signed is titled "The Mr. P. Ross Berry Memorial Naming Project" and subtitled "Community support for the naming of the Youngstown city school district's central high school in honor & amp; tribute of the late Mr. P. Ross Berry." Text below the titles states that signers of the petition support naming the school after Berry.
The school has been referred to as the new central high school by some; students from various sides of Youngstown will attend.
Page with signature
The specific page that bears Beachum's signature has only the "The Mr. P. Ross Berry Memorial Naming Project" title at its top.
"He is an educated, learned man who is articulate," Mr. Macklin said. "He can't pretend he didn't sign it."
Beachum, who served a stint as principal of the former East High School, maintains Mr. Macklin is in error.
"I did say we should consider naming one of the buildings in his [Berry's] honor but not the high school. I personally put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and time at East High School when I became principal. I wanted every student at East to know that they were 'somebody' and that East was second to no school in ... the state."