Kasich inks Youngstown Plan

By Denise Dick | July 17, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Columbus

Despite objections from some members of the Youngstown community, Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation Thursday that will allow a chief executive officer to manage and operate the city school district.

Kasich signed the law, called the Youngstown Plan, flanked by Thomas Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, and Laura Meeks, outgoing president of Eastern Gateway Community College.

Both Meeks and Humphries were on a committee that helped develop the plan.

Jackie Adair, a school board member, had hoped that the governor might delay signing after U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, issued a statement urging Kasich and state legislators to reconsider.

She acknowledges, though, that something needs to be done to help students who aren’t succeeding academically.

“The kids were just dying on the vine,” Adair said. “We have generation after generation who were not doing well academically.”

She finds Kasich’s action somewhat curious considering his presidential aspirations.

“For a person who is running for president, you need Ohio,” the school board member said. “You’re talking about this affecting every school district in this state.”

Urban districts in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati also struggle and could be subject to the same provisions in a few years that Youngstown faces now.

“You’re screwing around with a lot of people who vote: teachers unions, AFSCME unions, big-city people,” Adair said. “And how Ohio goes, so goes the nation.”

The law, which begins to take effect in 90 days, dissolves the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission and appoints a new one in its place.

The new five-member commission includes three members appointed by the state superintendent, one appointed by the mayor and a fifth who must be a teacher appointed by the school board.

That panel appoints a CEO to manage and operate the school district.