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School board appoints members as liaisons to OSBA
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Board of Education appointed liaisons to the state and set a date for working sessions that will allow committees to begin operating and making recommendations to the larger board.
Board member Jackie Adair was appointed at Tuesday’s meeting as the legislative liaison to the Ohio School Board Association, and member Ron Shadd was appointed as the student achievement liaison. The liaisons will be responsible for receiving communications from the Columbus-based OSBA.
The board will meet April 4 for special working sessions to finalize the details concerning member-led committees. The decision to set a date for working sessions came after a heated back-and-forth debate between member Dario Hunter and board President Brenda Kimble over whether Hunter could have a meeting for the finance committee, which he heads.
Kimble claimed a board member had not been given a chance to weigh in on the details concerning the creation of the committees. As such, any committee meeting before a working session to finalize details would be “illegal.”
Hunter argued the details had been approved during a previous meeting, and said he would have his finance committee meeting regardless.
He went on to accuse certain members of the leadership of “intending to undermine the committees’ efficacy” because they didn’t want to address issues brought before the panel.
Board member Jerome Williams helped smooth out the disagreement by calling for the board to set a date – April 4, a day before Hunter’s proposed finance committee meeting – to finalize any details needed before the various board committees could begin meeting and making recommendations to the board.
During the board’s public comments session, Shadd suggested a strong information campaign to make the Youngstown school district’s bullying policies easier to access for parents and students.
He also opposed the upcoming closing of the Alta Head Start program in May. He cited a report he received that suggested students who went though the program fared better once they began elementary school.
Adair disagreed with Shadd on Alta’s effectiveness. She said the Alta program was ending because its staff butted heads with school district employees. She added the program wasn’t doing enough to promote school readiness. Adair cited an unnamed source for both of her accusations.