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City schools’ new CEO: Teachers need support
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown City Schools’ first chief executive officer plans to focus on instruction and providing educators with the resources they need to accomplish that.
“Gov. [John] Kasich is not going to save the schools; [House Bill] 70 is not going to save the schools; a CEO is not going to save the schools,” Krish Mohip said.
The teachers are the people who are in the classrooms with the students, working each day, he said.
“My mom was a teacher; I was a teacher. I have nothing but the highest regard for teachers and the ability of a teacher to transform a child’s life,” Mohip said. “What we need to do is to support teachers.”
He referred to professional development as a way for teachers to learn to hone instruction.
The new CEO, a Chicago Public Schools administrator, was interviewed Friday morning on Vindy Talk Radio.
His work in Youngstown begins June 29. He’ll earn $160,000 the first year of his three-year contract, and that amount increases $5,000 each in the second and third years. The contract allows Mohip to earn up to $10,000 more per year based on district performance.
The state will pay Mohip’s salary and benefits.
The Youngstown Plan, legislation passed last summer by the state Legislature, gives Mohip 120 days from his appointment to create an improvement plan with input from community stakeholders.
Mohip signed his contract earlier this week at a meeting of the academic distress commission where attendees filled the commons area of Choffin Career and Technical Center. He was surprised at the turnout and honored that so many waited to meet and talk with him.
“Overall, there is hope,” Mohip said. “The community does believe in the children and believes they can succeed.”
Often, children who grow up in poverty don’t believe they can succeed. They need to know they can, and it’s up to adults in the school system to help them. Children need to know that people believe in them and that it’s not just lip service, he said.
Mohip, 38, became a Chicago principal at 27, leading one of the lowest-performing schools in that city. Under his leadership, that school improved and outperformed magnet and gifted schools in the area.
As chief officer/strategic school support, Mohip was responsible for transforming 36 of that city’s lowest-performing schools. Twenty-four of those schools improved enough to return to their regular school network a year earlier than expected.
As far as parental involvement in the schools, Mohip believes parents must be given the benefit of the doubt.
“Everyone is trying the best they can,” he said. “I’ve never met a parent that didn’t want their children to succeed, or wanted their child to fail or to go to jail or to be dead by 25. Parents may need more support.”
Students are in school six or seven hours per day, and Mohip believes everyone who works in the schools is responsible for student achievement and school improvement.
During the early days of his tenure, he wants to visit schools and talk with members of the community to determine what each school is doing well and where it needs improvement.
Early in his tenure, he expects to meet again with the teachers union and to complete his one-on-one meetings with each school board member.
Mohip earlier this week met teachers, administrators and business and community leaders and attended a school board work session during his daylong visit.
Board members, who frequently bicker among themselves and who filed a lawsuit along with employee unions to stop the Youngstown Plan from taking effect, made a good impression.
“All of the board members are thoughtful and reflective ...,” Mohip said. “They all want to do what’s best for the kids.”