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3 Mahoning school districts will have new superintendents
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Three Mahoning County school districts will have new people in charge this fall.
The school boards at both Springfield and West Branch already have selected replacements for their respective retiring superintendents, Debra Mettee and Scott Weingart. Tom Yazvac, principal of Springfield Elementary School, begins as superintendent Aug. 1.
Doug Phillips, a principal at a Tennessee high school, begins as West Branch superintendent that same date.
Youngstown, the third district, has selected Douglas Hiscox, deputy superintendent for academic affairs, to be superintendent pro tempore when Superintendent Connie Hathorn leaves.
Hathorn has resigned to become superintendent of Watson Chapel Schools in Pine Bluff, Ark.
A search is underway for an interim superintendent expected to serve for six months.
No plans have been announced for a permanent replacement.
Mettee, Springfield superintendent for 18 years, retires after 38 years in education.
“It’s a great district,” she said.
Her last day is Sept. 1.
“I’ll snip the ribbon on the new [elementary school] building and then ride off into the sunset,” she joked.
Her tenure makes her one of the longest-serving female superintendents in Ohio.
“For the longest time, I was the only female superintendent in Mahoning County,” she said.
Then Sandra DiBacco, Wendy Webb and Roan Craig were appointed at Struthers, Youngstown and Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, respectively.
All of them have since either retired or moved to other jobs.
Besides Mettee, Sebring’s Toni Viscounte is the only female superintendent in Mahoning County.
Springfield considered only internal candidates for the superintendent’s position, and all four building administrators applied.
Yazvac will earn $92,000 annually with a $3,000 annuity under terms of the three-year contract.
“He’s certainly ready for the job,” Mettee said.
Because some things that occur regularly in larger districts occur rarely in Springfield – one grievance in 18 years – when one does happen, Mettee tries to provide the other administrators with the opportunity to observe it.
Yazvac led the construction project for the new elementary school building set to open this fall.
No information was available Wednesday on Phillips’ contract terms.
Hathorn’s official last day is June 30 and he begins at the Arkansas district July 1. He’s using accumulated vacation time, however, and his last day on the job will be Friday.
Mettee plans to take her mother and stepfather on a 50th anniversary RV trip to visit all 13 of their grandchildren around the country during September.
She’ll continue to teach a collective bargaining and negotiations course at Youngstown State University and hopes to add a Spanish class.
Mettee learned Spanish from her time in Mexico as a young girl. Her stepfather is Mexican-American.