New Youngstown CEO: 'I'm here for the kids'

Youngstown City Schools Incoming CEO Justin Jennings

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By AMANDA TONOLI

atonoli@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

When incoming Youngstown City Schools CEO Justin Jennings graduated from high school, he could only read at a third-grade level.

His goal is to ensure students don’t go to college unprepared like he did.

“I want to hold people accountable for teaching and learning in the classroom,” he said. “I want to show a better product.”

Above all else, the new CEO said he is here for the students.

Jennings, outgoing superintendent for Muskegon schools in Michigan, came to The Vindicator office for an Editorial Board meeting Thursday afternoon.

He comes from Purdue University, Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan.

He calls himself a “turnaround principal.”

The opportunity to help turnaround a school district isn’t one that comes often, Jennings said.

“Muskegon was a labor of love,” he said. “It was hard to make a decision to walk away.”

He is committed to Youngstown and ensuring that students learn. He said he also plans to seek the involvement of the Youngstown school board – a departure from outgoing CEO Krish Mohip, who arrived in 2016 after passage of House Bill 70. Mohip relegated the elected school board to an advisory panel.

HB 70, also 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.

“I want to allow the district to get back into local control and make sure the board is involved in decision-making ... and educate each [board] member as to what’s going on,” Jennings said.

“I don’t want to come in and make mass changes, and I don’t want to rush to judgment,” he added. “Mohip definitely had done some things in the district to move it in the right directions, and I want to look at that data.”

Jennings said while he is aware the home situation of impoverished families and single moms and dads is not always the sole factor in whether a student succeeds academically, it also is not an excuse for students not to excel in the classroom.

“I want to make sure they [students] understand the data and why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he said. The rest will fall into place, he added.

“We, as adults, have to get along to do what’s best for our scholars,” Jennings said.

He also wants to get everyone on the same page – that of educating the students.

“Right now, we need a period of making sure we get everyone together on the same page,” Jennings said.

He assured the Editorial Board his leadership style will not be, and has no intention of becoming, that of a tyrant.

“At the end of the day, my focus is always to do what is right for our scholars and leave education to educators,” he said.