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Chicago administrator chosen for Youngstown schools CEO
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The first city schools chief executive officer looks forward to the challenge of the job and the opportunity to work as part of a team to improve children’s education.
“I want to start talking with everyone and engaging with all of the stakeholders – parents, teachers, administrators, students, city council, local politicians and all of the players in the city,” said Krish Mohip, a Chicago schools administrator. “Everyone has a different understanding about what the problems are and what the fixes are.”
The Youngstown City Schools Academic Distress Commission unanimously voted to offer Mohip the job at a meeting Tuesday morning.
“What I love is the challenge; that Youngstown is changing right now,” he said.
More than 30 applicants applied for the CEO post and the commission interviewed six of them before narrowing the field to two: Mohip and Tyrone Olverson, superintendent of Finneytown schools, near Cincinnati.
Brian Benyo, commission chairman, said commission members were blessed to have two finalists of such high quality.
“They were both equally strong instructional leaders” and both worked in urban settings.
In the end it was Mohip’s work in the Chicago schools that set him apart, the chairman said.
As chief officer-strategic school support services in Chicago, Mohip was responsible for the reform of 36 of the lowest-performing schools in that city.
Of those schools, 24 exhibited significant improvement.
“He served in some very difficult urban schools,” Benyo said.
“He has the experience of having turned around those schools.”
Mohip, 38, will be in town Tuesday for a 1 p.m. commission meeting at Choffin Career and Technical Center where he will be introduced to the community.
He will begin assessing the school district by late June, but his official start date, along with his salary are part of his contract negotiations.
The position is expected to pay between $160,000 and $180,000 annually and the state will reimburse the school district for the CEO’s salary and benefits.
Mohip has spent his entire career in the Chicago public schools, starting as a teacher, then a principal and then a deputy chief officer and a chief officer. In 2007, he became the school system’s youngest principal at 28.
The same day of Mohip’s Youngstown appointment, one of the Distress Commission members resigned.
Laura Meeks, commission member since May 2015 and the retired president of Eastern Gateway Community College, is moving to Kansas to be closer to family.
“My help is needed to raise my grandchildren,” she said.
She said she wanted to retain the commission post until a CEO was selected.
Lonny Rivera, interim state superintendent of public instruction, appointed John Richard to the vacant seat.
Richard is associate executive director of the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators and is a member of the Lorain Academic Distress Commission. He attended Youngstown ADC meetings when he was an associate superintendent at the Ohio Department of Education. He’s a former superintendent of Perry Local Schools in Stark County.
Benyo said Mohip will build a new relationship with the city school board and that panel will continue to play a role.
In his chief officer job, Mohip dealt with 36 different elected boards – one per school.
“He intends to make them a part of this process if he can,” Benyo said.
City board members regularly have heated discussions during meetings and many had a rocky relationship with the former superintendent.
Mohip said he believes whenever there is a group of people, there will be differences. All of those involved have to be willing to listen to and learn from each other, he said. They may not always agree, but they should disagree in a meaningful and respectful way.
Brenda Kimble, school board president, didn’t return calls to The Vindicator.
Mike Murphy, board vice president, said he’d reserve his opinion about the commission’s selection until he meets Mohip. But he’s willing to work with the new CEO.
“I’m willing to work with anyone [who] will help,” he said.
Jackie Adair, board member, said she’s willing to work with Mohip, too.
She was hoping, though, the CEO would be someone with a business background. She believes many of the school district’s problems stem from poor business practices.
“I believe if we get those things in order, then the academics will fall into place,” Adair said.
Paula Valentini, spokeswoman for the Youngstown Education Association, the city schools teachers’ union, is optimistic about the commission’s selection.
“Hopefully, Mr. Mohip will want to work with staff, parents and the community to create a plan that will support our schools to benefit our children,” she said.
From what Valentini has read about him, Mohip seems to be the kind of person who will want to bring the stakeholders together to create a plan to benefit children.
As CEO, Mohip will have broad authority in operating the city schools.
The legislation that called for a CEO, dubbed “The Youngstown Plan,” was approved last summer by both houses of the state Legislature.
The city school board, teachers’ and classified employees’ unions filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Education asking a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge to declare the law unconstitutional. That case is set for trial in September.
After passage of the Youngstown Plan, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, met with teachers, faith leaders, administrators, community leaders and others to try to devise an alternative to the legislation.
His legislation didn’t get very far, but he collected a lot of data that he will give to Mohip.
Schiavoni hopes that even if the CEO doesn’t implement the recommendations voiced by those stakeholders that he will at least listen.
“Hopefully he’ll approach this as a very transparent process, working in cooperation with the community and in collaboration with all the leaders,” he said.
Early indications look hopeful.
Schiavoni’s office called Mohip to set an appointment between the two men.
“He already called back to set it up,” the lawmaker said.