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School treasurer, football standout, union leader vie for Warren seats
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
An incumbent, the Hubbard school district treasurer, a former football standout and a retired union leader are vying to fill three open seats on the Warren Board of Education.
Rhonda Baldwin-Amorganos, 44, has been Hubbard treasurer since 2007, was the Brookfield school district treasurer for 21/2 years and worked for Warren city schools 15 years between 1989 and 2004 as library clerk, secretary and in the treasurer’s office.
Baldwin-Amorganos, whose children are graduated from high school, has never run for political office before.
She said one of the biggest issues in Warren city schools is that a larger percentage of students need to attend school on the days when the Ohio Academic Achievement test and Ohio Graduation Test are given.
“Each one counts as a zero,” she said, adding that she believes her experience with the Hubbard schools can benefit the Warren district because of Hubbard’s high Report Card scores.
Baldwin-Amorganos also said she thinks Warren city schools has too many administrative staff, and too many students focus on sports to the exclusion of academics.
Andre Coleman, 32, who played football at Harding and at Youngstown State University under coach Jim Tressel, has never been elected to office before. He is a steelworker at RG Steel in Warren.
Coleman said he believes that the 1.5 grade-point average in Warren for sports eligibility is too low.
“It’s my belief that our students could push themselves more if they had higher standards,” Coleman said.
Coleman said he knows a lot of the families in the school district because he coached the Warren Little Raiders football program for several years.
“My biggest thing is the fact that we’ve been in academic watch for so many years,” Coleman said of the school district’s state report-card rating. “I believe we have the right superintendent in place, and the board is moving in the right direction.”
Clyde Wilson, who declined to give his age, worked 38 years as a human-relations representative at Delphi Packard Electric and served as district committeeman for Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers.
Wilson said he believes his experience in working with contracts will benefit the district because he believes some of the board’s contracts can be improved.
Wilson says he believes it’s to his advantage that he took a workshop offered by the Ohio Board of Education that prepares people to serve on a local school board.
Patti Limperos, running for re-election to the board, did not return phone calls seeking information.