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Changes made to Youngstown schools administration
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The substitute city schools administrator at the center of a lawsuit regarding her academic distress commission appointment has been moved to a principal’s post.
Beginning Monday, Carol Staten took over as the principal at Discovery Transitions to Careers at Volney. Linda Reigelman, who had been the Volney principal, is now an assistant principal at Chaney.
“I’m trying to find a model that’s working better,” said Stephen Stohla, interim superintendent. “I’m basically trying to find people positions that are more compatible with their experience and expertise.”
There have been some difficulties at Volney and at East High School, he said, declining to elaborate.
Stohla said the move, which is one of a handful of administrative changes in the district starting this week, wasn’t suggested by Brenda Kimble, school board president, or any other school board member and has nothing to do with the ongoing lawsuit between Kimble and the teachers union.
“I couldn’t care less about that,” he said of the lawsuit. Staten “is a veteran principal in the system, and I didn’t think there was anybody who would be better than her.”
Kimble couldn’t be reached.
Jackie Adair, a school board member, said something needed to be done to address the problems at Volney.
“I’ll leave the selection of that position to the expertise of our superintendent with the hope and prayer that Dr. Staten can help to turn that situation around at Volney,” she said.
Adair characterized the problems as students being “out of control.”
Paula Valentini, a spokeswoman for the Youngstown Education Association, declined to comment on Staten’s principal appointment.
Kimble appointed Staten, a retired principal and substitute administrator and Kimble’s distant cousin, to the schools’ new academic distress commission. The commission was created in legislation known as the Youngstown Plan.
The new commission will appoint a chief executive officer to manage and operate the city school district.
That law gives the school board president one commission appointment who is supposed to be a teacher. The YEA took Kimble to court regarding Staten’s appointment.
The union argues that Kimble should have appointed an active classroom teacher to the commission. Kimble’s attorneys contend that Staten qualifies as a teacher under the law.
A magistrate in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court agreed with the union, but Atty. Ted Roberts, who represents Kimble, and assistant attorneys general representing the commission have filed objections to the magistrate’s decision.
The matter awaits additional attorney filings before a decision by Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning Common Pleas Court.
The other administrative changes are an assistant principal at Chaney who was moved to East and an assistant principal at East who was moved to the same position at Volney.
Appointing Staten to the principal post is expected on the Jan. 12 school board meeting agenda, Stohla said. Her salary hasn’t been determined. The other changes don’t require board approval. Reigelman’s salary, about $89,000, won’t change with the job change.
Reigelman was hired in June 2014 as principal of what was then called Discovery 3 at East. It serves seventh- and eighth-graders and includes a career-tech emphasis and was housed at East last school year.