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CEO adds STEM, dance classes at East
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
East High School students will have the chance to take STEM, dance and music classes similar to what’s offered across town on the Chaney campus.
Krish Mohip, city schools chief executive officer, announced at Tuesday’s regular school board meeting that introduction classes in information technology, engineering design, creativity design, dance and piano will be available at East beginning in the fall.
“We’ve worked hard to level the playing field so students have similar opportunities regardless of what high school they go to,” he said.
Two social-emotional learning courses and a career connections course have been added to the East offerings, too.
For the past several years, students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or visual and performing arts auditioned or interviewed for a spot at the Chaney campus on the West Side.
Mohip’s plan is to bring additional STEM-related courses to East. Visual and performing arts will remain at Chaney.
The meeting then devolved into a lengthy discussion about committee assignments and meeting minutes.
Mohip appointed Corrine Sanderson to the Tax Incentive Review Council, but Brenda Kimble, school board president, said she appointed board member Jerome Williams to that job as legislative liaison.
Mohip apologized, saying at the time he asked Sanderson to sit on the committee he did not know Williams already had been assigned.
Kimble said appointment to the panel, which reviews companies’ requests for tax abatements is a board decision. The panel meets annually.
Sanderson and Dario Hunter argued that the board never voted on an appointment to the council.
Williams then interjected, asking board members to stay on task.
“Can we go forward with the education of the kids?” he said.
Hunter then launched into a tirade about committees, committee meetings and minutes.
Last month, he filed a public-records request for the committee meeting notices and minutes going back two years. If either the meetings weren’t advertised or no minutes were completed, that’s a violation of Ohio’s Public Records Law, Hunter said.
“This board and its predecessors are guilty” of Sunshine Law violations, Hunter said.
Jackie Adair, board member, said she announces her policy committee meetings at the board’s regular meeting and she waived minutes from some of those.
Board committees used to include three members until a consultant retained by the former academic distress commission recommended the change, Adair said.
That consultant suggested the board eliminate committee meetings and replace them with work sessions as needed.
Kimble said there weren’t supposed to be committee meetings.
The board member assigned a particular area was to be in touch with the staff member in charge of that issue, she said.
For example, the board member assigned finance was to remain in contact with the treasurer.
“I’ve said it over and over again – committees are not supposed to be meeting,” Kimble said.
In a January email regarding board member duties, Kimble wrote, “It is the duty of each member to contact their staff person with any request of information they would like to be discussed at the work session or to see what the staff person will be presenting.”
Adair said she wasn’t told not to schedule committee meetings.
Committees exist to save time for the whole board, she said.
“Why have a committee if you’re not going to provide useful information?” Adair asked.
Michael Murphy, who is assigned to the finance and extracurricular/sports committee, said he called the treasurer or the athletic director. The committee didn’t meet, he said.
“I didn’t take minutes because we did it over the phone,” he said.
Mohip ended the discussion. “Moving forward, I will take over all committee meetings,” he said.