7th District rules for teachers union, against Kimble in Distress Commission case

YOUNGSTOWN

Brenda Kimble, city school board president, has until Monday to appoint an appropriate teacher to the academic distress commission, the 7th District Appeals Court ruled.

The ruling came Friday, a day after judges Cheryl Waite, Mary DeGenaro and Carol Ann Robb heard testimony from attorneys representing Kimble, the city schools teachers union and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Their decision affirms the earlier ruling of Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ordering Kimble to appoint a teacher, using the “common and ordinary meaning as someone whose occupation is teacher, especially children.”

“Kimble appears to argue that the words ‘teacher’ and ‘employed’” in the law “do not need to be read together and that the statue would be satisfied as along as a person is licensed as a teacher and is employed in any manner by the district,” Judge Waite wrote in her opinion with which Judges DeGenaro and Robb concurred.

“This is a tortured reading of the statute and runs contrary to the canon of statutory construction that words are to be given their ordinary meaning,” Judge Waite wrote.

Neither Kimble nor Atty. Ted Roberts, who represents her, could be reached to answer whether she would further appeal the decision.

At least one school board member, however, believes Kimble should abide by the judges’ decision.

Read what the board member said and more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.