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Teachers and school board president square off in court
Magistrate hears arguments over Kimble’s appointment
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A decision on whether a substitute administrator and retired principal may serve on the city schools academic distress commission is expected in the coming weeks.
Attorneys representing the Youngstown Education Association, the city schools teachers union, argued Monday before Magistrate Daniel Dascenzo of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that Brenda Kimble, school board president, should appoint an active classroom teacher employed by the district.
Kimble appointed Carol Staten, a retired principal who works as a substitute administrator, to the commission.
The five-member commission includes three members appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction; one by the mayor; and the fifth, a teacher, by the school board president.
The commission, borne out of the Youngstown Plan legislation, will appoint a district chief executive officer to manage and operate the city schools. The CEO will be paid by the state and have broad authority.
“The purpose of the statute is to give teachers a voice in what the academic distress commission does,” said Charles Oldfield, one of the lawyers representing the teachers union.
Staten hasn’t been a teacher since 1993, he said.
Atty. Ted Roberts, who represents Kimble, argued that the law doesn’t specify that Kimble’s appointment be a “classroom teacher.”
He pointed to a section of Ohio law that defines a teacher as a principal, assistant principal, classroom teacher, superintendent or other educationally licensed individual.
Michael Fisher, an assistant Ohio attorney general, told the magistrate that the case should be dismissed. The teachers union doesn’t have standing to bring the case, he said.
In a lawsuit arguing that the Youngstown Plan is unconstitutional, filed by the school board, teachers and classified employees unions, the judge rejected requests to stop the plan from taking effect.
Not allowing the commission to meet and begin its work means that the children of the city schools will lose one more year of a quality education, Fisher said.
Even if the union does have standing, attorneys should have filed it in Franklin County, where the original suit is proceeding, he said.
Dascenzo didn’t rule on the motion to dismiss.
Staten testified that she hadn’t applied nor interviewed for the commission appointment. She said she retired in 2008 from her job as a principal. She returned as a substitute principal in the 2009-10 school year.
“We do a little bit of everything,” Staten said. “It depends on what is needed.”
That includes teaching if a teacher is absent and the district can’t find a substitute.
Under cross-examination by Roberts, Staten said she considers herself a teacher. She said she has several education degrees and is licensed to teach special education as well as kindergarten through 12th grade.
Larry Ellis, YEA president, told the court that a classroom teacher should be appointed because teachers are the ones who are “in the trenches.”
Under Roberts’ questioning, Ellis acknowledged that there are nonteaching members of the union – psychologists, librarians, guidance counselors – as well as nonunion members who teach. The latter are called “fair-share fee payers,” who aren’t voting members but are still covered by the contract and must pay a fee.
Kimble said she chose Staten because of her depth of experience in all aspects of the school district. The commission appointment is a voluntary position, so it wasn’t necessary to seek applications or interview candidates.
The other people she said she considered are Dorothy Maxwell Moore, a long-term district substitute teacher; Vincent Shivers, a teacher at Choffin Career and Technical Center; Rhonda Taylor, a teacher; Traci Cain, an East High School teacher; and principals Misha Scott of Discovery at Kirkmere and Joseph Krumpak of Chaney.
Kimble said she selected Staten with the agreement of the full school board.
She acknowledged under questioning from Atty. Ira Mirkin, who also represents the teachers union, that she sought a list of “fair-share fee payers” from the district’s human resources department.
He contended she asked for the list to be prepared if the court ruled against her.
Kimble said she requested that list because it’s “important to know what a union stands for and what it does.”
She also asked for the list “because I have a right to have it.”
Although the academic distress commission can’t take action, all of the parties agreed that the four members whose appointments aren’t in question are allowed to conduct fact gathering. The four will break into pairs and visit schools today, meeting teachers and administrators.
The four are Chairman Brian Benyo, president of Brilex Industries; Laura Meeks, retired president of Eastern Gateway Community College; and Jennifer Roller, president of the Raymond John Wean Foundation, all appointed by the state superintendent; and Barbara Brothers, a retired Youngstown State University dean, who was appointed by Mayor John A. McNally.