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15 local people apply for city schools CEO position
Youngstown Plan’s future uncertain
and Amanda Tonoli
YOUNGSTOWN
Despite the constant conflict of the position from the local and state level, nearly 140 people have applied for the Youngstown City Schools CEO position.
Among the applicants are at least 15 local people.
By May, the list will be pared to six candidates and then two to three finalists.
The search is underway even as the future of the position is challenged by members of the Ohio General Assembly and faces legal action to abolish it.
State lawmakers have put forward legislation to repeal House Bill 70, the so-called Youngs-town Plan, that puts failing school districts under the supervision of a CEO hired by a state-appointed academic distress commission.
The Ohio Supreme Court also has agreed to hear arguments on whether the law is constitutional. The law strips away all power from the locally elected school board.
Four of the CEO hopefuls are from Youngstown City Schools: Jeremy Batchelor, Sonya Gordon, William Morvay and Rick Shepas.
Batchelor, principal of the district’s East High School, said he wants to continue to “be a part of the solution in the district.”
Batchelor, who grew up in Youngstown but lives in Austintown, joined the city schools a year ago and spent the prior four years as assistant superintendent of the Austintown School District.
“I definitely enjoy what we’re doing here, and I want to see the kids of Youngstown succeed,” he said. “That’s why I came to Youngstown. I didn’t come looking for this [job], but now that the opportunity is there, I feel it’s my duty to step up if I can.”
Gordon, the district’s secondary education chief and former East High principal, declined to comment on her application.
Morvay, district chief of security, said he has some innovative ideas that need to be implemented in planning for the next school year.
Shepas is the district’s athletic director.
Another district employee, Jennifer Merritt, who is part of shared services with the Mahoning County Education Services Center, also is listed. Merritt is the Mahoning County High School superintendent and district alternative education director.
Former city schools employees also applied – Kenya Mandeldove-Sadler, former district deputy chief of transformation; Karen Green, former district assistant superintendent of human resources; and Carol Staten, former substitute principal.
Staten was involved in a dispute between the teachers union and Brenda Kimble, Youngstown school board president, in July 2016.
Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court upheld a magistrate’s decision that Staten could not serve as an academic distress commission member appointed by Kimble.
The judge’s decision upheld the claim filed by the Youngstown Teachers Association against Kimble regarding her appointment of Staten to the ADC.
Current Austintown and Weathersfield superintendents Vince Colaluca and Damen Dohar, respectively, are also applicants.
Former school superintendents Michael Notar of Warren City Schools, Nicholas Wolsonovich of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and John Grahovac of Struthers and Brookfield are also in the running.
Other locals include Tayana Pannell, former head of the United Methodist Community Center, and Atty. Phillip Arbie.
One of the candidates will be chosen to ultimately replace current city schools CEO Krish Mohip, who makes an annual salary of $170,000.
ADC Chairman John Richard said the next steps are as follows:
The Youngstown Academic Distress Commission will have a special meeting at 12:30 p.m. April 3 to hear a report from Finding Leaders of Sagamore Hills, Ohio, the search firm that collected the list of candidates, regarding stakeholder input and candidate applications.
Then the ADC will review applicants with Finding Leaders and invite six applicants to interview.
After the first round of interviews, the field will be narrowed to two or three finalists, and another intensive interview will commence. The ADC has reached out to two board members to attend the interviews with the finalists and offer input.
Finally, the ADC is to reach a decision by late April or early May regarding the next CEO for the district.