I have no 'massa,' Youngstown BOE member complains about CEO

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown Board of Education members were outraged Tuesday after district CEO Krish Mohip scrapped two resolutions that would have allowed participation in the Ohio School Boards Association Legal Assistance Fund.

The board unanimously approved the two resolutions seeking $250 despite the district CEO’s denial.

Board member Jackie Adair said she’s had enough of “the CEO dictating to us the things he feels he has the authority to do” and suggested getting a legal opinion on Mohip’s authority. Mohip was hired by a state-appointed academic distress commission to bring the district out of academic emergency, and he reduced the school board’s role to advisory.

“I was freed a long time ago,” she said. “I don’t have a dictator. I don’t have a ‘massa.’ I am a free African American elected board member of this Youngstown city school board, and I will not be dictated to by anybody who thinks he has the authority to tell us when we can eat, sleep and jump.”

The CEO was not in attendance. He had his denial delivered by Stephen Stohla, the school district’s interim superintendent.

“The actions of the board are advisory unless the CEO has delegated specific powers to the board,” Stohla read from Mohip’s address.

Read more about the meeting in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.