Youngstown school board prez irked by communication with charter-school operator

YOUNGSTOWN — Communication between a city school board member and a charter-school operator caused confusion and some bad feelings among the board.

Lock P. Beachum Sr., board president, said an official from Mosaica Education Inc., a charter-school operator, received an email from a board member asking Mosaica to start charter schools in the city. Beachum, however, said he hasn’t seen the email.

Beachum didn’t identify the board member during the regular board meeting tonight, but during the board’s caucus, members said it was Anthony Catale.

When the Mosaica official, John Q. Porter, contacted Superintendent Connie Hathorn about it, Hathorn said he didn’t know anything about such a plan, Beachum said. A meeting that had been set up between Catale and Mosaica was canceled this week.

“I’ve been telling people in the community that this board is 100 percent behind the superintendent,” Beachum said. “Evidently, he does not have 100 percent of the board behind him if this is going on.”

Catale, who didn’t attend the meeting because of an accident involving a family member, said in a telephone interview that he contacted a Mosaica representative because he’s heard rumors that Mosaica was going to form charter schools at some city schools and he wanted a meeting with them to determine if that was true.

For the complete story, read Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com