Tuesday, January 20, 2015
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Ursuline High School’s principal will retire at the end of this school year after 20 years on the job.
Scott Schulick, chairman of the Ursuline Board of Directors, said Patricia Fleming, who started at the school 32 years ago, still will be involved at Ursuline.
“She may teach a couple of classes or help out with fundraising activities,” he said. “She’s not walking away from the school.”
Fleming also will help with the transition to a new principal at the school, Schulick said.
The board of directors will be involved in the principal search but ultimately, the Rev. Thomas Murphy, Ursuline president, will appoint the new principal.
Although Fleming didn’t announce her pending retirement until last week, Schulick said it didn’t come as a surprise to the board.
“The board has been working on a transition plan with the president for the better part of a year,” he said.
Fleming’s retirement means both Youngstown high schools in the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown will have new principals next year.
Last week, John Young, Cardinal Mooney High School principal for more than three years, was terminated after he declined to either retire or resign.
School and diocese officials would only say the decision was a personnel matter.
The move hasn’t set well with some students who wore T-shirts, showing their support for Young at a girls basketball game Saturday. A group of students has created a Twitter account, rallying behind the former principal.
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 principal.