Youngstown schools chief should hit ground running

While we aren't looking for Wendy Webb, the new superintendent of the Youngstown City School District, to make promises just to appease the public, we do expect her to provide the community with a vision for pulling the system out of the academic cellar.
It is not an unrealistic expectation given that Dr. Webb was hired to replace Ben McGee largely on the strength of her career with the Youngstown district. She served as assistant superintendent for six years, was director of instruction and curriculum for five years and before that had worked mostly as a librarian at South, Chaney and Rayen high schools.
While the membership of the board of education has changed since the decision was made last November to appoint Webb to the top job, three of the members are still around, and the onus is now upon them to make sure she has her priorities in the right order.
By shunning a national search last year, the board deprived itself of a larger pool of qualified candidates than was available within the district. It also was unable to judge just how qualified Webb was for the most important public job in Mahoning County.
The failing city school system not only has had a negative impact on a significant portion of the young population in Youngstown, but has been a drag on government's economic revitalization efforts.
Academic watch
While McGee and others in the system insist that things aren't as bad as they were, say, two years ago, having the district under state academic watch, as opposed to academic emergency, isn't a sign of substantial progress.
That is why we had strongly urged the board to look far and wide for a superintendent. While there is something to be said about having an insider elevated to the top spot -- intimate knowledge of the system, for example -- there is a strong argument to be made for bringing in an outsider. For one thing, the individual would not be bound by any relationships that could influence his or her willingness to make the tough decisions. And given some seemingly intractable problems that have afflicted the district for years, someone from the outside could have brought a fresh perspective to the job.
Webb must now show that she has the ability to think outside the box that has been her home for 27 years. The board obviously believes she is up to the challenge, seeing as how it gave her a three-year contract with a salary of $102,000, a $6,000 increase from what she was making as assistant superintendent.
Still unnegotiated is a program of achievement-based raises. The keyword is achievement, and we urge members to use the continuous improvement plan that was adopted in 2000 as the standard for evaluation. The state required such a plan after the district was placed in academic emergency.
On the crucial issue of proficiency test scores, for example, the plan breaks down goals by year and school, giving each of the district's elementary, junior high/middle and high schools benchmarks that would enable them to meet state standards by 2006.
Such an accomplishment would earn the district continuous improvement status. Webb should explain how she will lead Youngstown schools to that milestone and she should be held to that.