Contract OK’d for schools’ treasurer

By Harold Gwin

Johnson must become Youngstown resident

YOUNGSTOWN — The city school district treasurer has a new three-year contract and must move into the city within 120 days.

The city school board voted unanimously Wednesday to give William A. Johnson a new contract effective Aug. 1, which will expire July 31, 2012.

The agreement sets his 2009-10 salary at $84,424, which is step three of an eight-step salary schedule for 12-month administrators. That schedule reaches a salary maximum of about $95,000 in its final year.

By school board policy, Johnson, who lives in McDonald, will be required to move into the city within 120 days of the start of his new contract. He was reminded of that stipulation in a recent letter from the board’s Certificated Personnel Committee. Johnson said he has no objection to moving into Youngstown and thinks he has found a home here.

He was hired in November 2007 under an 18-month provisional contract paying him an annual salary of $80,000.

His new contract requires that he meet with the board between 60 and 90 days after it is signed and during July of each subsequent calendar year to mutually establish annual performance goals by which the treasurer will be evaluated by the board during the ensuing year. However, that annual evaluation won’t necessarily be limited to those particular performance goals.

The agreement requires that the treasurer work 248 days per contract year, and it provides him with 25 paid vacation days annually.

In other business, the board heard a suggestion from Tom Anderson of Canfield Road that the horticulture program cut from the curriculum at Choffin Career & Technical Center two years ago be restored.

“The interest would be there,” Anderson said, noting that horticulture and gardening appear to be enjoying a resurgence in the community right now. He cited the existence of a number of gardening and municipal beautification efforts, some of them involving young people, going on now as proof.

Joseph Meranto, Choffin director, said the program was cut due to a lack of student interest. Enrollment numbers were low, he said.

gwin@vindy.com