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Youngstown board member proposes tying pay to district performance
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A city school board member wants to tie members’ pay to the district’s academic performance.
Dario Hunter, whose term began in January, said he proposed a resolution at Wednesday’s regular board meeting to only compensate school board members if the school district scores at least a “C” on the state report card.
“There are so many ‘F’s’, something has to give,” he said.
That resolution was tabled as Treasurer Sherry Tyson will explore its legality.
Jerome Williams, board member, pointed out that board members couldn’t vote to change the compensation, effective mid-term. It could only apply to future terms.
Hunter acknowledged that but said such a change would work as an incentive.
He said he has an alternative if that resolution can’t be undertaken.
That would be to limit to two meetings per month the meetings for which board members are paid.
Board members get $125 per meeting, per member.
The former academic distress commission, dissolved last fall when the Youngstown Plan took effect, had limited to two the number of monthly meetings for which members would be paid.
That changed, however, in January and there’s no pay restriction. Tyson said she asked the district’s attorney, who told her that members could be paid per meeting because there was no academic distress commission in place.
The board typically meets twice monthly in regular session and a third time for a work sessions. Special meetings are scheduled as needed.
Hunter said he has no objections to special meetings — he just doesn’t think the taxpayers should foot the bill.
The Youngstown Plan established a new academic distress commission which will appoint a state-paid chief executive officer to manage and operate the school district.
There was a lag in the establishment of the commission because the teachers’ union filed a lawsuit after Brenda Kimble, school board president, appointed a substitute administrator to the commission.
The law says the school board president’s commission appointee should be a teacher.
A magistrate and a judge of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court both agreed with the teachers’ union. Kimble appealed and last week three 7th District Court of Appeals judges affirmed the lower court decision.
This week, Kimble appointed Vincent Shivers, a media arts teacher at Choffin Career and Technical Center to the commission.
The new commission met for the first time Wednesday.