MAHONING COUNTY School board fills seat

Fourteen people had applied to fill the vacancy.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township resident Kenneth Beraduce will fill the board of education seat left vacant last month by longtime board member Atty. Mark Huberman.
School board President Kimberly Poma said the board unanimously selected Beraduce of Gilbert Drive to fill the vacancy. Beraduce will serve through 2005. He can run for a full term in November of that year.
Beraduce, his wife and a daughter are all graduates of the Boardman school system. One daughter will be a senior this school year.
Beraduce has been involved with the schools for many years and said he decided it was time to get involved in a more official capacity. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the board in 2002. He is a lifelong resident of the township and is director of technical services for Catholic HealthCare Partners.
Looking ahead
Beraduce said he is looking forward to playing a more intricate part in the growing school system. He said he would like to learn the process and be part of the board for a while before commenting on any changes he'd like to see in the system.
Fourteen people sent letters of interest to the board. Poma said board members were impressed with the response from the public.
Poma said board members felt Beraduce's background in information technology would be beneficial to the board, but said his years of involvement with the schools tipped the scale in his favor.
"[Beraduce] has served the board on a volunteer basis in a number of ways for easily eight to 10 years, on the levy committee and on strategic planning teams," she said. "It was a hard decision in one sense and yet easy in another sense."
Resignation
Huberman resigned from the school board effective July 31. Huberman had served 20 years on the board. He was the longest sitting board member at the time of his resignation.
An opinion issued by a state advisory board in June lead to the resignation. When first elected to the board, Huberman was working as a magistrate/referee in the Mahoning County juvenile court system, leading some to wonder whether holding both positions posed a conflict.
The matter was taken before the Supreme Court of Ohio Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline for an opinion. The board ruled in 1987 that no conflict existed. Huberman said the agreement was that he would not hear cases involving juveniles from Boardman as long as he was a school board member.
Huberman, now chief magistrate in Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court, said the matter was again taken before the state board. This time, the board ruled that it was improper for a magistrate to serve on or run for a board of education. It's not clear why the ruling was reversed or who asked that the matter be revisited by the top court.
jgoodwin@vindy.com