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Mohip strategic plan’s “proof is in the pudding”
YOUNGSTOWN
The Academic Distress Commission on Monday approved city schools CEO Krish Mohip’s strategic plan to improve the district over three years.
Mohip referred to the plan, first introduced in September, as a “living, breathing document” that is subject to changes moving forward, as the commission sees fit.
The plan is part of House Bill 70 enacted last year. Under its provisions, the school district is being led by a chief executive officer and overseen by a state-appointed academic distress commission. Its elected board of education stays in place but with less power.
Mohip brought additions to the plan from the last meeting, including updating the student code of conduct, educating students on appropriate school behavior, providing high-quality professional development to all staff members and providing character education teaching to all children.
Before the plan, Mohip said the student code of conduct had very clear lines of definition – something that was progressive in accurately displaying consequences for offenses from first, second and up.
The problem, he said, was the lack of supportive practices ensuring that students learn from those behaviors reaping consequences.
“When a child can’t read we teach them to read. When a child can’t do math, we teach them to do math. When a child can’t behave the answer can’t be to remove,” Mohip said. “We need to give the kids a chance to learn from their behavior instead of repeat it, and understand what is wrong and why it’s wrong.”
A new code of conduct returns conduct decisions to the schools.
“There’s not a dotted line that says, ‘If a child does this, we have to do this,’” he said. “We are giving the ownership back to the schools by saying, ‘Here’s a plethora of things you can choose.’ It’s a menu of items and we are giving responsibility back to the schools to make decisions for their students – and that’s what makes sense.”
Mohip added that he understood there still will be times when removal from the schools due to certain behaviors will be necessary.
Another addition that Mohip added enables teachers to accelerate their rate of professional development through observation trackers.
“This was something I stole from a researcher and author named [Paul] Bambrick-Santoyo. He posed the question: How long does it take for a teacher to become skilled? The common answer is seven to 10 years. ...[Bambrick-Santoyo’s] saying it takes seven to 10 years for a teacher to become skilled because they only receive three to four pieces of feedback per year,” Mohip said. “You should be able to accelerate the growth of an educator if you give them more feedback.”
The plan will increase principals’ presences in the classrooms, enabling teachers to receive weekly informal feedback.
Although Youngstown Education Association President Larry Ellis said he appreciated Mohip’s attention to teachers, his flexibility and openness to feedback, he disliked the Academic Distress Commission’s inflexibility with the meeting’s early 1 p.m. time.
“Teachers have no opportunity to be here and voice our concerns,” he said. “It’s very disheartening.”
Commission President Brian Benyo said he was unsure if the commission’s meeting was the most “appropriate venue for teachers to express their concerns.”
“Our first concern is always trying to pick a time and date and when we can bring together the commission members themselves,” he said. “I’d like to see communication channels mature within the district to where the union steps forward in a more constructive way, to channel some of those voices and there’s more dialogue directly with the CEO and the union, and it’s more constructive than coming to a public meeting to voice those concerns individually.”
Board of education member Jacqueline Adair mirrored Ellis’ discontent with the commission not involving the board in any part of making the plan.
“We have not been talked to about whatever CEO Mohip has come up with,” she said.
Commission member John Richards said despite some discontent regarding the strategic plan, because the document is flexible, he felt it was time to move forward with its implementation.
“The proof is kind of in the pudding in terms of quarterly updates and I think if I were one of the principals or the teachers in the district I would think [the plan] is fluid in nature and you’re going to have that same ebb and flow with the commission [regarding the plan] as well,” he said.
Barbara Brothers, commission member, agreed.
“Krish [Mohip] listened and has been listening. And as he’s been saying, this shows he wants what’s best for the students and for Youngstown,” she said.