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Fired Mooney principal says supporters deserve explanation from the school
By Denise Dick
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John Young’s termination Thursday as principal of Cardinal Mooney High School means he won’t be there to see his first class of students graduate.
“It’s devastating to me,” he said. “I can’t be around for graduation. This is my first class of kids.”
Mooney’s seniors this year were freshmen during Young’s first year at Mooney.
Young said his grandchildren also were to attend the school next year.
He said he was asked to retire or resign, but he wouldn’t and was terminated. Young didn’t want to talk about the reasons for his dismissal, directing those questions to the school and officials at the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
He believes those officials owe an explanation to students, parents and alumni.
Young, a Mooney alumnus, has been a school administrator since 1979, including 23 years as a Brookfield Schools principal and 14 years as Liberty High School principal before joining the Mooney administration.
The Rev. Gerald DeLucia, president of the school, wouldn’t provide the reason for replacing Young but said it wasn’t because of any alleged inappropriate, illegal or immoral conduct. Because it’s a personnel issue, Father DeLucia said he couldn’t divulge any reasons for the leadership change.
Mark Vollmer, assistant principal, will serve as the school’s interim principal through the end of the school year.
Faculty and staff were notified and a note was sent home to parents Thursday, informing them of the leadership switch.
“At the semester break, the Bishop [George V. Murry] decided to make the change in concert with myself and others,” Father DeLucia said.
Like Father DeLucia, Randy Rair, assistant superintendent for government programs, athletics and institutional advancement at the Office of Catholic Schools for the Diocese, declined to talk about the reasons for Young’s dismissal.
He acknowledged, however, that making such a change midway through the school year is unusual.
“It’s not common, but it’s a personnel matter,” he said, adding that he couldn’t discuss it.
The Office of Catholic Schools will begin a search for a new principal Tuesday. The new principal would begin serving during the 2015 to 2016 school year.
Rair said the ideal candidate will be “a good educational leader, practicing Catholic” and “someone who will continue the good things that are happening at Cardinal Mooney.”
In 2012, both Mooney and Ursuline high schools converted to a two-tier governance structure, the same alignment John F. Kennedy High School in Warren has used for several years.
Under the two-tiered governance structure, the bishop appoints a member board whose responsibilities include legal issues, finances, property mission, hiring a president and selecting a board of directors.
The president then hires the school principals.