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Youngstown schools’ meat and potatoes committee
Finance committee meeting in ‘best interest of district, kids, community’
YOUNGSTOWN
Three Youngstown Board of Education members discussed what member Dario Hunter calls the “meat and potatoes” of the district during a Wednesday finance committee meeting.
“Finance is tied to everything,” Hunter said. “This meeting is in the best interest of the district, the kids and the community.”
The committee includes Hunter as chairman and board member Corinne Sanderson as a member. Board member Jackie Adair joined the first meeting as a guest.
Sanderson moved to discuss hiring a new treasurer because Sherry Tyson is retiring as of July 31.
“We should start looking at resumes and getting recommendations since it is within our authority to hire a treasurer,” she said.
Adair suggested the committee gather financial information – and a lot of it – to report to the public and be responsible for easily getting access to it.
“This has been my concern from Day One where [the district] stands financially, bottom line,” she said. “I will go on record saying I will not, do not support another [district operating] levy.”
Adair listed a number of items that the committee should report on, such as: legal expenses, teacher salaries, old and new program expenses, position duplication expenses, money paid to the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, saving or consolidation suggestions, transportation department expenses, and substitute teacher wages.
She also listed a cost-benefit analysis of CEO Krish Mohip’s social worker hirings in place of Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court’s Early Warning System – a $3,000 grant for each middle school and high school participating.
In place of the court’s program, Mohip hired 11 social workers at an annual maximum salary of $41,924 each.
Mohip, who is running the district under state academic distress commission oversight, has told The Vindicator his new system of social workers and five-week reports is more effective for the city schools than the Early Warning System. Mohip’s authority supercedes the school board’s in all matters except for tax abatements.
“... For our district, we are looking at somewhere between 1,300 and 1,400 students,” Mohip said. “That’s why we made the decision to invest in our own social workers ... because of the quantity of need and even the severity of some of our students.”
Adair argued the social worker system is an item she has a problem with.
“I heard from a friend of mine, who is a social worker, that one of the other social workers was tasked with washing a little girl’s hair,” she said. “That is not the work of a social worker and that is not what we are paying him or her $40,000 a year for. Go to a beautician.”
Hunter and Sanderson defended the worker.
“Social workers are not there for academics, they are to focus on a social issue,” Sanderson said. “That is social work.”
Hunter said he wanted to look at the details of Mohip’s new system, both financially and studentwise, before he is too critical of the new system.
“Maybe [Mohip’s system] will better fit our needs,” he said.
The committee agreed that one of its purposes will be to act as a conduit for financial information.
Hunter said there is a lot of ground to cover in the next eight months.
“A lot of this is cost-benefit analysis and not having these meetings or limiting them would be a disservice to the public,” he said.
Future meetings will be labeled special meetings and will be conducted monthly during a time when the board meeting is not scheduled.