Youngstown school board president ordered to name classroom teacher to distress commission

YOUNGSTOWN

School board President Brenda Kimble is under court order to appoint a current city schools classroom teacher to the Academic Distress Commission.

The Seventh District Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that requires her to appoint “an appropriate teacher” to the school district’s ADC within 48 hours.

The ruling affirms an earler decision by Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Teacher, the court said, means a current classroom teacher.

Attorneys for the city school board president, the teachers union and the Ohio Attorney General’s office presented arguments Thursday regarding Kimble’s appointment of Carol Staten, a principal, ADC. Staten was a substitute administrator at the time of her appointment to the commission.

The five-member commission, part of the state Youngstown Plan legislation, is to appoint a chief executive officer to operate the school district.

The Youngstown Education Association, the teachers’ union, filed a lawsuit over Kimble’s appointment of Staten, arguing it should be a current classroom teacher.

The law says the school board president’s appointment is to be a teacher.