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New Youngstown schools commission chairman named
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The retired Euclid Schools superintendent is the next chairman of the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission.
Joffrey Jones, who retired from Euclid in 2012 after 10 years on the job, was sworn in Thursday and officially takes over as volunteer chairman today. Adrienne O’Neill, chairwoman since 2012, stepped down due to health reasons. Jones is the third chairman since the ADC’s 2010 creation.
“I like to be collaborative unless being collaborative is not working, and then I have to make decisions,” Jones said of his leadership style.
He said he expects the people who work both for and with him to do their jobs.
Before becoming Euclid superintendent, Jones worked for 12 years in the Mentor school district — seven years as assistant superintendent and five years as a building administrator.
Demographically, Euclid and Youngstown schools share some similarities.
The Euclid School District, based on 2012 data, is about 82 percent African-American students with the remainder from other races, primarily Caucasian. About 80 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches. Youngstown Schools are about 70 percent African-American, and about 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches.
“After 43 years in education, I’m happy to be giving back to the children of Youngstown and the community at large,” Jones said.
Also Thursday, the commission appointed Beth Ann Hargreaves to the newly created high-school academic monitor for student success and quality control position.
Hargreaves, of Youngs-town, has worked as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and superintendent in several school districts including Crestview. She also worked as the director of school improvement for the Portage County Educational Service Center.
Hargreaves will be paid $60 per hour, not to exceed $450 per day including expenses.
She’ll visit all school buildings and programs that serve city high-school students and write reports on the quality of school climate, whether classrooms are providing students success opportunities to meet graduation requirements, the status of suspended or expelled students, advanced placement and dual credit opportunities for students, in-school suspension classroom, grading reports, teacher meetings and interventions for students who aren’t likely to meet graduation requirements.
Those reports will be given to the commission.
An academic monitor worked in the district’s kindergarten through eighth-grade schools this past school year, writing and delivering similar reports, and commission members believe that work improved school performance.
John Richard, state assistant superintendent, and commission members, thanked O’Neill for her service on the panel.
Betty Greene, commission member, lauded O’Neill’s work ethic and thanked her for being “a friend to the children of the Youngstown City Schools.”
O’Neill said she believes it was time that was well spent.