Youngstown BOE interviews 3 for academic commission openings

YOUNGSTOWN

City school board members interviewed three people as possible replacements for the board president’s appointments to the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission.

Richard Atkinson, board president, said no decision has been made about whether to replace either Susan Moorer or Betty Greene. It’s possible that neither will be replaced, he said.

Tuesday, the board interviewed Barbara Brothers, retired dean of Youngstown State University’s College of Arts and Sciences; Atty. Lori Shells, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor; and William Blake, director of student diversity of programs at YSU, as possible replacements.

Each candidate said he or she would communicate openly with board members.

Greene, a retired city school principal and an instructor in YSU’s Beeghly College of Education, is the commission’s only original member, originally appointed in 2010. Moorer, coordinator of P-16 outreach and assessment at YSU, was appointed in late 2011.

The other three members, including the chairman, were appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction.

In other business in the nearly 3.5-hour meeting, board members tabled awarding a contract for in-school suspension program at East High School to D&E Counseling Center and rejected a recommendation from Superintendent Connie Hathorn to award a contract to Thompson Enterprises for mental-health services at Programs of Promise at Wilson.

Read more about the meeting in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.