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Youngstown school board member: District has no Nohra and no plan
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown school board member Dario Hunter accused district CEO Krish Mohip of “window dressing” the district to look nice, while it’s operating the same.
“It is emblematic, the lack of direction in this new regime, the fact that COO [chief operations officer Joe] Nohra is gone as soon as he came,” Hunter said.
He was referring to Nohra’s acceptance Monday of a superintendent position in Liberty, which Nohra said he was working toward for nearly two months. He will start in August.
“A number of new administrators were brought in and supposed to help turn this ship around,” Hunter said. “They were paid massive salaries to do so – salaries that offended all high-quality teachers in this district because they’re underpaid compared to nearby districts. But the rationale was that they [administrators] were going to lead the charge in turning around academics for our district, and there were some people who said, if they’re worth the price, let’s wait and see what happens. But what has happened is one of them who has opportunistically gone onto a neighboring district and we still have no real plan to turn around the academic slide.”
Nohra was one of many hires in January with an annual salary of $115,000. He came from a superintendent position in Struthers schools.
His new position in Liberty pays $15,000 less the first year and $13,000 less each of the following four.
Nohra said he took the position because he missed being a superintendent and working with Mohip only enhanced that feeling.
“I’m very sad at the end of the day,” he said. “I can’t do both jobs and I do love what I’m doing here.”
Nohra said he kept Mohip in the know the entire time.
Mohip said he is sad to see Nohra go but cannot stand in his way.
“Although he was here for only a short time, Joe was instrumental in streamlining some procedures in our operations,” he said. “Joe leaves the department better than how he found it. It will be that much easier for the next person fulfilling those duties.”
Nohra added that it doesn’t matter if he’s in Liberty or Youngstown, he still will be helping students succeed, which is all that matters.
Also Tuesday, school board members expressed discontent about costs in Mohip’s plan to move Youngstown Early College to the Irene L. Ward Building at 20 W. Wood St. Jackie Adair and Mike Murphy said the move is likely to be costly.
Mohip previously said the cost for building renovations would be between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Adair said until she sees academic improvement, she is not in favor of another property-tax levy to provide more funding if the move makes it necessary. “I will not support more taxes while this district is still in an academic swamp,” she said.
Board member Ronald Shadd said the cost would be more than just financial – it would take away the environment that molds students. “Being on campus gives students a chance to mature in a mature environment,” he said.