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Mohip’s third and final NAACP review
YOUNGSTOWN
The NAACP Youngstown Branch doled out four A’s, one B, four C’s, one D and two F’s for Youngstown City Schools CEO Krish Mohip’s third – and final – six-month review.
Mohip received:
A’s for open lines of communication, setting the priorities right in the strategic plan, retention of kindergartners and responding to requests for public records/information in a timely manner.
B for addressing civil-rights complaint cases.
C’s for improving grade-point-average results, hiring of best academic practitioners for underperforming schools, using equitable and fair hiring practices for the overall staff and bettering East High based on GPA improvement, reconstitution of the school and the quality of the newly hired Principal Sonya Gordon.
D for using equitable and fair-hiring practices for multistate bar examination staff.
And F’s for improving standardized test results and improving the four-year graduation rate.
From now on, the NAACP will be reviewing Mohip’s academic teams in the district on a three-month basis, explained Jimma McWilson, NAACP vice president, at Thursday night’s meeting.
“We only have 18 more months to go,” added George Freeman Jr., NAACP president.
Freeman was referencing CEO Mohip’s three-year contract, which expires July 31, 2019.
The NAACP’s focus is not on House Bill 70 or Mohip specifically, but with those directly affected by public education – the students.
Mohip was put in place by HB 70, commonly referred to as the Youngstown Plan, which was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in July 2015.
It enabled a state-appointed academic distress commission to hire a CEO to lead the district. The bill gives Mohip complete operational, managerial and instructional control. He refers to the elected school board as an advisory board.
Youngstown is the first school district in Ohio that has fallen under the auspices of HB 70.
“Today is about putting our children in first place,” McWilson said. “We are here to speak to holding the new power structure accountable for correcting the wrongs of the past, and ensure our children can achieve their full academic, social and career potential[s] without poverty being an excuse for failures of the paid adults.”