43
Youngstown school board’s arguments over meeting agendas persist
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Discussion about what was and wasn’t on the agenda, a community activist being escorted out by security and an explanation for an administrator’s absence all punctuated Tuesday’s city school board meeting.
Board members Corrine Sanderson and Dario Hunter both complained that items they had asked to be added to the agenda were not. For Sanderson, it was a 100 percent tax-abatement request for a downtown hotel. Hunter wanted the ongoing troubles with bus transportation to be included.
“Like I told you [Monday] night, it’s not ready,” board Vice President Michael Murphy told Sanderson of the tax abatement. “The language is not ready. It has to be changed before it’s put on the agenda.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, William Morvay, district chief of security, escorted Clarence Boles, a community activist and editor of The Buckeye Review, from the meeting room.
Hunter said he doesn’t understand why if a board member wants something to be added to the agenda that’s in the best interests of students, it isn’t.
Board member Jackie Adair referred to an email earlier this year from Sherry Tyson, district treasurer and board parliamentarian.
“Members always have the right to add new items to the assembly, and new business is the place to do it,” she said. “No one board member has the singular authority to deny any other board member” to add agenda items.
After more back and forth, board member Ronald Shadd called for a point of order, noting that Adair, Sanderson and Hunter had all exhausted their allotted speaking time.
“If there are no other new comments, I’d ask for a vote on this piece,” he said, referring to approval of the agenda.
Board President Brenda Kimble, Shadd’s mother, agreed.
And Krish Mohip, district chief executive officer, chimed in.
“I think this issue has been put to rest, so go on with the roll call,” he said.
Kimble, Shadd, Murphy and Jerome Williams approved the meeting agenda, with Adair, Hunter and Sanderson opposing.
Adair moved for an extension of the amount of time allotted for discussion per board member, but that motion failed.
Boles charged that some school board members have personal agendas. Boles called the Rev. Kenneth Simon of New Bethel Baptist Church and Ronald Miller, a retired attorney, “politically incompetent.”
Those men were appointed by Kimble last year as the school board’s representatives on the former academic distress commission.
Kimble told Boles that the board could prohibit him from speaking at meetings if he uses foul language.
“What foul language? I didn’t say, ‘Brenda Kimble,’” Boles said.
Mohip then asked Morvay to escort Boles from the meeting.
Later, Mohip mentioned that Milton A. Walters, district’s assistant superintendent for human resources, has resigned.
The resignation was effective Aug. 31, but Walters, who was hired in September 2015, will be paid through Oct. 31, he said.