Ethics issue faces school board president

YOUNGSTOWN — City school board president Michael Write may have violated the state’s ethics law just by applying for a paid position in the district while still in office.

Write, whose term on the board ends this month, said he applied for a community “linkage coordinator” job in a program being funded under a state grant on Nov. 7, the day after he lost his bid for re-election to the school board. It was the last day to apply for the position.

Write said he had voted earlier in the year for the district to accept the $545,633 grant to fund a program aimed at improving the graduation rate and academic achievement of ninth grade boys.

At the time, he had no intention of applying for one of the two coordinator jobs the grant requires, he said, explaining, “My intent was to be on the board again.”

Information provided to The Vindicator by the Ohio Ethics Commission says that a board member cannot seek nor solicit employment from the board while he or she is a member of that board.

For more, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com