43
New city schools commission to be appointed in October
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A new city schools academic distress commission will be in place by October, and those members will appoint a district chief executive officer by December.
Jennifer Felker, an associate superintendent at the Ohio Department of Education, told members of the district’s current academic distress commission at a meeting Monday that no later than January, the CEO will convene a panel of community stakeholders, and by March, the CEO will develop an improvement plan for the schools.
No later than May, the new commission will vote on the new plan.
That’s the time line outlined in the Youngstown Plan, legislation approved last month by both houses of the state Legislature and signed by Gov. John Kasich.
That plan dissolves the sitting academic distress commission and establishes a new one. The new panel will include three members appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction; one by the mayor; and the fifth, who must be a teacher, by the school board.
“I never was a fan of the academic distress commissions,” said Ronald Miller, commission member.
He said he agreed to serve at the request of city school board members to try to bring a closer association between the commission and school board for the benefit of young people.
But he questions the purpose of commission meetings considering current commission members know that they’re to be replaced with a new group.
“What in the world are we meeting for?” he said. “We’re just here putting on a show.”
Felker said the commission stays in place until a new one is appointed, per the Youngstown Plan.
The Rev. Kenneth Simon of New Bethel Baptist Church, a commission member, said he objects to the way the bill was rushed through the Legislature without opportunity for the community to voice opinion.
He also believes giving a CEO so much power is a bad idea.
“I question the legality of House Bill 70,” the Rev. Mr. Simon said. “It shows total disregard for this community, or the teachers, parents, community members and the children of this school district.”
Aside from those connected to the media and those who assist the commission, just one member of the public attended the meeting.
In other business, a resolution saw a split vote with one member absent.
The resolution would have paid two part-time consultants from ODE up to $58,752 to work in the district’s human resources department from July 1 through Nov. 1.
Three high-level ODE administrators, however, will continue to work in the district at the state’s expense.
The work is necessary because Karen Green, assistant superintendent of human resources, resigned last month. ODE staffers worked to hire needed personnel and complete other work necessary to begin the school year.
Commission Chairman Joffrey Jones and Paul Williams voted in favor of the resolution with Miller and Mr. Simon opposed. Laura Meeks was absent.
Brenda Kimble, school board president, said that when the state came in to do the work, board members were told it would be a state expense.
“Then we’re told the state isn’t going to continue to pay and the district will have to,” she said.
If school board members had known that, they could have hired someone, Kimble said. The commission and the state keep directing that the district hire people and expect the district to pay for it, while at the same time, it cautions the district about watching its finances, she said.
“Everything that’s been done has been done the way you wanted to do it and the board was not consulted – just like House Bill 70 [the Youngstown Plan],” Kimble said.
Jones said it’s not like the Youngstown Plan.
“Yes it is,” Kimble said. “It’s control.”