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School contract approved despite vaguery
Ronald King School Contract
Document
Application and recommendation to the Youngstown Board of Education for Dr. Ronald D. King to be contracted in the role of Parent and Community Training Development Coordinator for the district.
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The city school board approved a $6,500-per-month contract with a minister/counselor without knowing the number of hours he would work or his educational background.
And despite oversight from a state commission and years of shaky finances, district officials from the superintendent to board members have been reticent to discuss how R. Douglas King got the job or what he exactly does for a position that will pay him about $58,000 this school year.
Stephen Stohla, interim superintendent, said King was contracted at the suggestion of the school board.
King works through his company, UR Fertile Ground, based in New Jersey and described on its website as a “platform for several motivational enterprises including workshops, music, apparel and accessories for youths and adults.”
He was hired for a board retreat in August and earned about $1,356.
King led sessions on professional image, board members and superintendents at the retreat Aug. 28-30.
“The board liked him and asked me if there was any way I could use him in the schools,” said Stohla. “I said, ‘Sure’.”
Stohla, however, is mum on which board members made the request. “I’m not going to tell you that,” he said.
King, a city native who has worked in Paterson, N.J., for the last several years, was contracted Sept. 22 to provide services of a parent and community training development coordinator.
“I spend most of my time with students, working to change the attitudes of students, change the beliefs of students” and inform them about the possibilities available to them, King said, adding he’s working to increase the value students place on education.
King referred questions about his hiring to Stohla and Brenda Kimble, school board president.
The position wasn’t created for King, Stohla said.
“It was a need that the schools had, and I thought he could fill the bill,” Stohla said.
Stohla acknowledged he didn’t advertise or request for proposals (RFPs) or request for qualifications (RFQs) for the services.
For similar services, the district has advertised for RFPs or RFQs. Companies submit their qualifications and explain how they will provide the requested services and the cost.
“I asked for his resume,” he said.
In the district’s current status with the state, authority for any administrator-level hirings is disputed. But the board and the distirct can contract services at their own will.
King is no strange face to the district.
Doug Hiscox, the district’s former deputy superintendent for academic affairs, said when he and Connie Hathorn, former superintendent, were in office, Kimble asked about hiring King.
Hathorn left the district in May; Hiscox left in July.
“Brenda had requested that Doc [Hathorn] and I talk to him and see what he could offer,” he said. Hiscox said he did that.
“[He] was asking us to create a job for him, and we weren’t in a position to create a job for anybody,” he said.
Board member Jackie Adair believes the contracting now is just as questionable.
“That was done without any information,” she said of the resolution contracting King’s services. “It was added at the last minute. We didn’t know the salary, didn’t know the job description. There was not an RFP put out there for anyone. I’ve asked about our staffing plan. We don’t even know how many people we need because there has been no staffing audit.”
She added that she still hasn’t seen King’s contract and doesn’t know exactly what he’s contracted to do.
Kimble said she doesn’t know King personally, but she knew of his previous work in a mentoring program at Choffin Career and Technical Center that showed some successes.
Stohla said he’s satisfied with the work King is doing so far, and Kimble said she’s heard from people in the schools that King is making strides.
OMBUDSMAN POSITION
King disputes reports he has told district employees he will be the next ombudsman when John T. Allen retires in mid-January.
Both Kimble and Michael Murphy, board vice president, said that isn’t the plan.
Murphy said he would vote against any action to hire King for that job. He said he wants to see evidence of what King is doing.
Also, he’s not sure the district needs an ombudsman.
Kimble agreed the position may not be needed.
The board approved the resolution to contract King’s services, which said the “salary [would be] dependent on education.” The contract was effective that same day through the end of the school year pending successful completion of pre-employment processing.
Only Adair objected, seeking to table the resolution to get more information including a job description and dollar figure. Her motion died for lack of a second.
“We’re in pretty good shape financially,” Adair said. “But if we keep doing this stuff, we won’t be.”
King said he has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Christian counseling from Christian University in Paterson, N.J. Those degrees are not on his resume. But his resume does say he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in general studies at Youngstown State University and a doctorate in ministry. He spent 25 years as a financial adviser and is a licensed minister.
He and Stohla signed a one-page contract Oct. 15. He is working at East High School and at Discovery at Volney, two district schools that see the most student behavioral problems.
The contract says he is to “interact with high-school and middle-school students and with groups of students at both levels to provide mentoring, role modeling and general motivation to improve student achievement and acceptable behavior.”
He’s also to cooperate with administrators to assist with parental involvement and issues that detract from the desired school climate.
A hand-written addendum to the contract, initialed by both King and Stohla, says King will work at the two schools during school hours. It doesn’t, however, specify a number of hours.
Stohla said the $6,500-per-month figure is based on the work that King is doing.
“Other contractors who have been working in the district since before I got here make a lot more,” he said.
Before returning to his hometown, he worked with the juvenile court in Passaic County, Paterson, N.J., where Judge Ernest Caposella gives him positive reviews.
The judge said King ran a program in New Jersey using model cars to teach young people how to follow instructions, work together and see projects through.
“This was not an arts-and-crafts program,” Judge Caposella said. “It was a counseling program using the building of models as a tool to teach.”
King worked with the juvenile court’s day-reporting program, dealing with youth who otherwise would have been in juvenile detention.
“We had him with the toughest of the tough,” the judge said.
Rather than going to detention, the day reporting provided tutoring and other services. King’s program was so successful that more young people, including less-serious offenders, wanted to sign up for it, Judge Caposella said.
“He’s a pretty committed guy,” he said. “We liked him here.”
King said he decided to return to his hometown after the deaths of several family members. He came back last year when his mother was ill. She died, followed by the deaths of two aunts and a brother.
“I wanted to see if I could use my area of expertise to help in my hometown,” King said.
Initially, King was issued a school-district cellphone. That number has since been disconnected.
He also completed paperwork for the school employees retirement system, although district officials said that was done mistakenly as King is an independent contractor, not a district employee. Treasurer James Reinhard said King never received any benefits through the school district.
Stohla attributed the error to confusion between the departure of the former assistant superintendent of human resources and the arrival of the current assistant superintendent.