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Officials weigh options for replacing Connie Hathorn
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The chairman of the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission and the president of Youngstown’s school board are weighing the options for appointing a new city schools superintendent.
Options are to launch a search for a new superintendent or to hire an interim and then begin a search next year, said Joffrey Jones, chairman of the academic distress commission.
No decisions have been made. If they opt to name an interim superintendent they’d have to decide from where to hire him or her.
“Everything is on the table,” Jones said. “It could be from internal or it could be an interim from outside.”
He hasn’t discussed the situation with Ohio Department of Education officials.
Hathorn announced his resignation last week, effective June 30. He’s accepted the superintendent position at Watson Chapel Schools in Pine Bluff, Ark. Hathorn has been Youngstown superintendent since January 2011.
John Charlton, an ODE spokesman, said in an email that he doesn’t expect a decision until next week regarding that department’s role in selecting Youngstown’s next superintendent.
The superintendent in Lorain, the other Ohio district with an academic distress commission, is retiring so ODE officials will be making a decision regarding that district too.
Brenda Kimble, school board president, expects the school board to discuss the issue at next week’s regular board meeting.
“I would like to put an interim in and then do a search,” she said.
Kimble wants an interim superintendent who is familiar with the school district and able to step in and keep it moving forward.
“If we get somebody who is brand new, they would have to research and study the district,” she said. “We don’t have time for that. We need someone who knows the district and is familiar with what’s going on so we can stay focused and move forward.”
The district has been under the supervision of the commission since 2010, triggered by the district being designated in academic emergency and failing to make adequate yearly progress for four years. It was the first such commission in Ohio. An academic distress commission was appointed at Lorain City Schools in 2013.