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Search firm will begin hunt for interim city schools superintendent
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
An interim city schools superintendent will serve for about six months before a more-permanent replacement for Connie Hathorn is appointed.
The Youngstown City Schools Academic Distress Commission voted Thursday to hire Finding Leaders of Independence, Ohio, for $1,500 to conduct a search for an interim superintendent.
A search committee of two members each from the commission and the city school board and three community members selected by the school board will then narrow the list of candidates to three finalists by June 9.
The school board will select the interim from those three finalists.
Joffrey Jones, chairman of the academic distress commission, said the commission would have veto authority if it doesn’t support the board’s choice, but he doesn’t believe that will happen.
The person selected for the interim post could come from either inside or outside the district.
“We want the best candidate who is ready to fit the bill and keep things moving forward in the Youngstown City Schools,” Jones said.
Hathorn’s resignation is effective June 30, but he plans to use accrued vacation time beginning May 28. He’s accepted the superintendent job at Watson Chapel Schools in Pine Bluff, Ark. He begins the new job July 1.
To perform superintendent duties between Hathorn’s departure and the start of the interim, Jones said the school board likely will appoint a superintendent pro tem.
Jones said the search for a permanent replacement will be determined after an interim person is selected. The person selected as the interim superintendent could be appointed to the job permanently.
“Anything is possible,” the commission chairman said.
The process for selecting a permanent replacement hasn’t been determined, he said.
Youngstown is one of two Ohio school districts under supervision of an academic distress commission because of poor academic performance. Youngstown was the first in 2010. Lorain fell under state control last year.
That district’s superintendent is retiring this year.
This will mark the second time a new Youngstown superintendent was appointed since the state commission took over.
When former Superintendent Wendy Webb retired, a search committee of community members and other stakeholders selected five finalists who were interviewed by both the school board and the commission.
Of those finalists, the commission provided the school board with the names of three with whom it would be satisfied. The board chose Hathorn from among them.
In other business, the commission approved a new two-year contract for Catherine Dorbish, principal at William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School, for $80,320 annually, and a one-year contract for Jennifer D’Amico, principal at Choffin Career and Technical Center, for $86,913.