Hiring of ‘consultant’ for city schools cannot stand

Interim Superintendent Stephen Stohla’s refusal to identify the members of the Youngstown Board of Education who suggested the hiring of R. Douglas King as an independent contractor is reason enough to set aside the decision.

But, there’s another issue that should give the taxpayers of the academically challenged school district pause: Neither the superintendent nor board members were willing to tell The Vindicator specifically what King is required to do for the $6,500 a month he is being paid for work through the end of the school year. The Youngstown native is working through his company, UR Fertile Ground, based in New Jersey.

He is supposed to provide services as a parent and community-training development coordinator.

What does the job entail? Vindicator Education Writer Denise Dick tried to get a straight answer to that question, but as her front-page story Sunday revealed, no one in a position of authority offered clear detailed specifics about it.

Indeed, a letter King sent to Interim Superintendent Stohla expressing his interest in serving the school district is just as vague.

Here’s what it says, in part:

“I am aware of some of the needs in the Youngstown School System particularly in the areas of student achievement, teacher commitment and parent participation. I would very much love to become a part of the fabric of change for the Mahoning Valley and specifically for our children. I believe and work within a foundational belief that habits are guaranteed, the question is which do we choose? My focus is to help students develop the ability to form good habits of future planning and the early acquisition of supportive knowledge towards the attainment of productive and acceptable outcomes.”

It is clear that King’s hiring must not stand. Thus, we urge the state- mandated Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission and the Ohio Department of Education to get involved.

The taxpayers deserve to know that their hard-earned dollars are not being squandered.

ENTER CEO FOR SCHOOLS

In addition, there soon will be a chief executive officer who will have complete authority over the operation of the district.

We have no doubt that the CEO will not only go over the large payroll with a fine-toothed comb but will determine which jobs are necessary for ensuring that Youngstown’s children get the best education possible, and which ones are a waste of money and time.

The hiring of King falls in the second category.

The New Jersey minister/counselor had led sessions on professional image at a retreat in August for school board members and the superintendents.

“The board liked him and asked me if there was any way I could use him in the schools,” Stohla told The Vindicator. “I said, ‘Sure.’”

So, who on the board suggested King’s hiring?

“I’m not going to tell you that,” the interim superintendent replied when asked by the newspaper’s veteran education writer, Dick.

It would seem that rather than attend some touchy-feely retreat, members of the school board and Stohla would do well to meet with state education department officials to find out if they can withhold pertinent information on the hiring of a professional consultant.

It is instructive that school board member Jackie Adair was the only one to object to King’s employment, saying the board needed to get more information, including a job description and dollar figure. But, Adair was not able to secure a second for her motion to table the King resolution.

Although Interim Superintendent Stohla insists the position was not created for King, the district did not advertise for the job or send out a request for proposals.

Adair makes a compelling argument when she says that King’s hiring points out the need for a staffing audit.

“I’ve asked about our staffing plan,” she said. “We don’t even know how many people we need because there has been no staffing audit.”

We are confident that the new academic distress commission, formed as part of the Youngstown Plan, and the chief executive officer will make staffing a priority. Paying an individual without clearly defined duties $6,500 a month to increase the value students place on education doesn’t seem to be a good use of taxpayer dollars.