Chaney High principal resigns, but mum
The superintendent said there was no pressure on Spencer to step down.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — The principal of Chaney High School has resigned effective Saturday.
The city school board accepted Robert Spencer’s resignation Tuesday, saying only that Spencer listed “personal reasons” for his decision.
Spencer, who has been part of the Youngstown schools system since 1970, declined to talk to The Vindicator about the matter, referring all questions to the superintendent’s office.
“I don’t think this was a quick decision,” said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, suggesting that Spencer may have been considering this for some time.
He already had retired from the district once.
Spencer became an assistant principal at Chaney in 1991 and was named principal in 1998. He retired in 2002 but was rehired by the district and continued to serve as principal at that building.
“We certainly will miss Mr. Spencer,” Webb said, adding, “If he feels this is the best decision for him at this time, I have to respect that.”
There was no pressure put on him to step down, she said, noting, “I certainly encouraged him to stick around.”
There were unconfirmed reports that Spencer had been assaulted twice by students at Chaney last week, but Webb said she had no such reports.
Chaney has had numerous reports of fights and assaults this school year, but Webb said she believes that things are improving in the school.
Altering dismissal, transportation and cafeteria schedules has helped break up large gatherings of students, and the administrative team has been working to deal with troublemakers, she said.
Chaney is in a transition period as students from the former Woodrow Wilson High School, which closed last June, now attend Chaney.
The first year in that type of transition is always rough, Webb said, adding that, at this point, reports of a problem in the school can quickly become exaggerated.
“This is a community issue,” she said, adding that a collective effort will be required to turn things around. “We’ve got to keep working on it,” she said.
Spencer will leave with the start of the Christmas holiday break, and students will be out of the building from Monday until Jan. 3.
Webb said the district has had a utility administrator, Claude Bentley, working in Chaney for some time and he will step into Spencer’s position, at least temporarily, working with deans Pete Lymber and Edna Douglas.
Spencer’s resignation caught Jerilyn Cromartie, president of the parent-teacher organization, by surprise.
She said she was unaware he had decided to leave.
“I have no problems with Mr. Spencer. He’s a wonderful man. He’s done a terrific job,” Cromartie said.
gwin@vindy.com