Youngstown BOE bristling at restriction of paid meetings

YOUNGSTOWN

Limiting the number of meetings for which city school board members get paid denigrates them by “allowing the inference that board member conduct is motivated by receipt of statutory compensation rather than the interests of the district,” a letter from the school board’s attorney says.

The March 4 letter from Atty. Ted Roberts, who represents the school board, to Michael Fisher, an assistant attorney general who represents the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission, asks that the restriction be rescinded.

That appears unlikely.

In a March 19 response, Fisher says the restriction doesn’t limit the number of unpaid board meetings and that the commission has the authority to establish a budget for the district and approve district appropriations and expenditures.

Last fall, an updated Academic Recovery Plan written by the commission and approved by Richard Ross, state superintendent of public instruction, limited to two the number of monthly meetings for which city school board members would be paid.

Members are paid $125 per member per meeting attended. The board conducts two regular meetings per month, but special meetings were a frequent occurrence last year. Before the commission’s action, there was no limit to the number of meetings for which members were paid.

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