Friday, November 13, 2015
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Mayor John A. McNally tapped a retired Youngstown State University dean and career educator for his appointment to the new city schools academic distress commission.
McNally announced Barbara Brothers as his choice Thursday.
“Dr. Brothers is a tireless advocate for public education and I am thrilled that she has accepted my invitation to represent the entire city, including our students, parents and teachers, on the academic distress commission,” the mayor said in a news release.
The new five-member commission created through the Youngstown Plan legislation replaces the commission in place since 2010. The panel will select a state-paid chief executive officer to manage and operate the school district.
Brothers said she wanted to be on the commission because she’s a supporter of public education.
“I believe in public education,” she said. “I have been involved in public education all along, and I think it’s under a real threat.”
Of the commission’s other four members, the state superintendent of public instruction is to name three, and Brenda Kimble, school board president, will appoint the fourth who must be a teacher.
Those appointments could come today.
Brothers’ education career spans 40 years, including time as a YSU professor and as the dean of its College of Arts and Sciences. She also is chairwoman of the League of Women Voters Education Committee and a league past president.
Brothers takes issue with the term CEO for a school system.
“Typically, CEOs of school systems have been called superintendents,” she said. “I am disturbed by the term ‘CEO.’”
She believes it’s important the person appointed have educational qualifications.
Though she served in leadership positions in academia, that doesn’t mean she’s qualified to run a paving company or a technology firm, Brothers reasons.
The legislation that created the Youngstown Plan doesn’t require the CEO to have an education background, but Brothers believes the person selected should have education experience.
She also believes there should be restraints on what the CEO can and cannot do.
The legislation gives the CEO broad authority, including the power to hire and fire, reopen contracts and turn failing schools over to charter or other outside operators.
“Hiring and firing at will sounds bad,” Brothers said. “Most CEOs at companies don’t have that anyway.”
Brothers previously has served on the boards of the YWCA, the Citizens League of Youngstown and the Youngstown Symphony.