UPDATE | Lorain school board member speaks at local school board's community meeting

YOUNGSTOWN — Tim Williams, a member of the Lorain schools board, described his district as "captured by House Bill 70" at a community meeting hosted by the Youngstown Board of Education board members and the Community Leaders Coalition on Education at Elizabeth Baptist Church, 1210 Himrod Ave.

HB 70, commonly referred to as the Youngstown Plan, was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in July 2015. It enabled a state-appointed academic distress commission to hire Mohip to lead the district. The bill gives Mohip complete operational, managerial and instructional control.

Lorain schools are also under the auspices of HB 70.

Despite trying to learn from Youngstown’s mistakes, Williams said Lorain schools are in the same poor state Youngstown schools are in now.

“These experiments are not new,” Williams said in reference to HB 70. “When you disengage a community from things fundamentally indigenous to that community the outcome you get is not excitable.”

5:40 p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN — About 30 people are in attendance at a community meeting hosted by the Youngstown Board of Education board members and the Community Leaders Coalition on Education at Elizabeth Baptist Church, 1210 Himrod Ave.

Board member Jackie Adair said the board decided it needed to get its narrative out to the community and decided to host the meeting to do so.

“We will be talking about issues impacting us financially and academically and how we feel about how CEO Krish Mohip has performed this year,” Adair said.

Accompanying Adair are board member Jerome Williams and board President Brenda Kimble.