Decision on Kimble's appointee to distress commission expected next week

YOUNGSTOWN

A decision is expected early next week on the city school board president’s appointment to the academic distress commission.

“I’ll make my ruling in writing by early next week,” Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said Thursday.

The judge heard arguments from attorneys for the Youngstown City Schools teachers union, school board President Brenda Kimble and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The new city school district academic distress commission, established by legislation called the Youngstown Plan, will appoint a state-paid chief executive officer to manage and operate the school district.

Under the plan, the commission is to have five members: three, including the chairman or chairwoman, appointed by the state superintendent; one by the mayor; and one – a teacher – by the school board president.

Kimble appointed Carol Staten, a retired principal who recently was tapped to be principal of Discovery Transitions to Careers at Volney.

The Youngstown Education Association disagreed, saying the appointee should be an active classroom teacher, and filed a lawsuit to challenge it.

In the meantime, the commission cannot meet until the issue is resolved.

Read more about the situation in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.