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Two incumbents, five challengers seek city school board seats
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Seven people are seeking four seats on the Youngstown City Board of Education, but you’ll only see three of their names on the November ballot.
Incumbents Brenda Kimble and Michael Murphy are seeking their second and third terms, respectively, and Corrine Sanderson is seeking her first elective office.
Neither Richard Atkinson nor Marcia Haire-Ellis is seeking re-election. Atkinson served two board terms and Haire-Ellis, one.
The other four people seeking the seats – Rick Alli, Tina Cvetkovich, Dario Hunter and Tyrone Peakes II – are write-in candidates.
The Youngstown Plan, legislation that calls for appointment of a chief executive officer to manage and operate the city schools, looms large over the election. The school board and the district’s employee unions are trying to stop the plan from taking effect, but if they aren’t successful and a CEO is appointed, it would be up to him or her how much, if at all, to involve the school board in district decisions.
Most of the candidates indicate opposition to the law.
Kimble, who is seeking her second school-board term, said opposing the law “will preserve the public-education framework in the state of Ohio, maintain organized-labor practices, ensure taxpayers’ funding is used for the purpose in which it was intended and secure the rights and the voice of Youngstown voters.”
Murphy, seeking his third term, lists the law’s defeat as a major issue.
“Secondly, to keep the schools moving toward an excellent rating,” he said. “Finally, to keep our public schools public.”
Alli, a retired Youngstown police detective who earlier this year ran for a Youngstown City Council seat, also lists the plan as a major issue in the race.
“I do not believe we should be taken over by Columbus, but I do believe they stepped in because prior to this, the community was not united,” he said. “I think a lot of people understand now and will take part in solving our own problems.”
Sanderson said she supports revision of the law.
She said she’s seeking election because “we are in need of school board members that can adequately set policies that address the issues of discipline, parental involvement and the social-emotional needs of our children.”
Cvetkovich, also seeking office for the first time, opposes the legislation and what she calls “the destruction of our public school system by outside entities who have their own agenda.”
Hunter, who also ran unsuccessfully for a city council seat this spring, also opposes the Youngstown Plan.
“As the plan does not contain any specifics or features that aim to change the manner of education in the district, it is not a true plan for educational improvement,” Hunter said. “I encourage state and local representatives to work together to produce a targeted academic plan for improving educational and career opportunities for our students.”
Peakes, a 2014 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate who is in his second year at Youngstown State University, said the major issue in the race is to “increase quality of education to be competitive wit public schools in other communities.”
As a recent high school graduate, Peakes believes he will “be able to identify and relate to the issues, concerns and goals of students.”