City school board leader pursues her own agenda

Just when it appeared that common sense had prevailed in the ridiculous legal battle over the newly minted Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission, we now learn that the perpetrator of the lawsuit is pursuing another questionable initiative.

As Vindicator Education Writer Denise Dick revealed Sunday, school board President Brenda Kimble is maintaining an office in the district’s administration building – without the formal approval of her colleagues. Kimble denies that the space across the hall from Interim Superintendent Dr. Stephen Stohla is her office.

But as Dick noted in her front-page story, there was campaign literature from Kimble’s re-election bid last year: campaign cards and a letter opener adorned with the picture of her face. Both urged her re-election.

“It’s not my office,” the controversial leader insisted. She explained that the campaign literature has been in the office for a long time and that someone had failed to hand out the cards.

Be that as it may, Kimble admitted she does use the office for meetings related to a committee she has revived – again, without the knowledge or approval of the board of education.

It’s called the Public Education Works Committee and is designed to get people in the Youngstown community involved in the schools to adopt families and mentor them.

It’s similar to the business advisory committee started by former Superintendent Dr. Connie Hathorn, Kimble said.

“It’s something that’s good for the community,” she insisted.

But her explanation for what’s going on is as transparent as the long, expensive legal battle she waged against the teachers union over her appointment of a relative to serve on the academic distress commission.

She finally gave up the fight – it has cost the district thousands of dollars in fees to its lawyer, Ted Roberts – after the 7th District Court of Appeals ruled against her.

Videography instructor

Kimble subsequently appointed Vincent Shivers, a videography instructor at the Choffin Career and Technical Center, to replace her distant cousin Carol Staten, a retired school administrator.

But rather than focusing her attention on the role the embattled board of education will play with the systemic changes that are coming, Kimble is now involved in an endeavor that does not include her colleagues.

Here’s how she justifies her use of the office in the administration building to push what looks to be her private agenda:

“This is actually a superintendent’s committee. It’s not my committee. I’m just gathering people because something needed to be done.”

Implicit in that statement is the suggestion that she’s the only one on the school board who is concerned about the children of the district and the only one who has the wherewithal to come up with solutions to the academically ailing urban system.

That, of course, is ridiculous and speaks to the dysfunction of the school board that prompted the Republican Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled General Assembly to take the extreme action of reorganizing the school district.

The so-called Youngstown Plan that was signed into law last year created the new five-member academic distress commission. Three of the members were appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction, one by Youngstown Mayor John McNally and the fifth by the school board president.

The primary responsibility of the commission is to hire a chief executive officer who under the law will have complete control over the school district.

The commission has tapped the Mahoning County Educational Service Center to conduct a national search.

The elected board of education will have a supporting role which, as of now, is undefined.

Kimble, as president, should be discussing with her colleagues how they can best participate in the future of the troubled school district.

We have long argued that school board members should leave the educational aspects of the system to the experts and focus their attention on the breakdown of the family unit especially in the inner-city neighborhoods.