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Youngstown schools plan was kept confidential, minutes say
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet Meeting April 28, 2015
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Minutes from meetings of the Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet, the group involved in formulation of the Youngstown Plan to reorganize the city schools, show that members talked about the need to maintain confidentiality of the the plan and its contents.
Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet Meeting May 21, 2015
Document
Minutes from meetings of the Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet, the group involved in formulation of the Youngstown Plan to reorganize the city schools, show that members talked about the need to maintain confidentiality of the the plan and its contents.
Minutes from meetings of the committee that developed the Youngstown Plan show members discussing a need to keep the plan confidential and strategies to avoid bad public relations.
Minutes from the April 28 and the May 21 meetings of the Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet were distributed Tuesday at a news conference called by the Youngstown Warren Black Caucus. Many attendees were city schoolteachers.
Richard Ross, state superintendent of public instruction, “begins the conversation by reminding everyone that confidentiality amongst the cabinet is essential until the plan begins to take place,” according to the May 21 minutes.
The plan, an amendment to another piece of legislation, was introduced and approved by a Ohio House committee, the full House and full Senate – all on the same day in late June.
The legislation means that in October, the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission will be abolished and a new commission appointed in its place. That commission will appoint a state-paid chief executive officer who will have broad authority in operating and managing the schools.
Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and a member of the committee that devised the plan, maintains the meetings weren’t secret.
“There was no intent to keep anything secret,” he said Tuesday night.
Talking about the need for a communication plan is common practice, he said.
“You do keep everything confidential until you have everything and a communication plan in place,” Humphries said.
He said the criticisms about the plan are politically motivated and not based on what’s best for children.
“We met with people from the community – a diverse group of people – and they say we didn’t meet with the ‘right people,’” Humphries said. “Were we supposed to meet with all 250,000 people in Mahoning County? The group was representative of people who are trying to fix that school system.”
Jaladah Aslam, president of the Youngstown Warren Black Caucus, referred to passages in the cabinet’s meeting minutes.
Bishop George Murry of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown “raised a concern of communicating the plan to the public,” the May 21 minutes say.
Discussion followed of how to move forward in addressing the potential public concerns.
Humphries “has compiled a list of community groups/individuals that should be contacted to easily identify who the cabinet must contact to avoid bad PR,” the minutes continue.
Cabinet members previously have been identified as Humphries; Bishop Murry; former schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn; Herb Washington, president of HLW Fast Track; Laura Meeks, former president of Eastern Gateway Community College; Jim Tressel, Youngstown State University president; retired Judge Robert Douglas of Youngstown Municipal Court; and Nick Santucci, the chamber’s manager of education and workforce development.
Minutes from the two meetings also list Ross; Jan Strasfeld, president of the Youngstown Foundation; state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd; a representative of the governor’s office and several representatives from the Ohio Department of Education as attendees at one or both of the meetings.
The news conference also included teachers and others carrying posters proclaiming their opposition to the plan.
Paula Valentini, a teacher at Harding Elementary School, said neither the business cabinet nor the academic distress commission asked for input from the teachers.
“We’re the experts,” she said.
Valentini said children are living in poverty and that’s what leaders should be addressing.
Those at the news conference also say the plan is an effort to privatize education.
Valentini said Youngstown was selected for the plan because Gov. John Kasich believes “teachers are pushovers and inner-city parents won’t get involved.”
The Ohio School Boards Association last month approved a resolution opposing the Youngstown Plan. OSBA also encouraged all school boards throughout the state to approve similar resolutions, and many have. The city school board, though, hasn’t.
The board ended its Tuesday meeting with a behind-closed-door session with Atty. Ted Roberts, who represents the board, and Martin Hume, the city’s law director. The board has asked the two lawyers to research the law, and board members have said a lawsuit is under consideration.