The State Legislature and Governor in Ohio must be the dumbest in the nation. They responded to low test scores in Youngstown by imposing state control of the district. Needless to say, the state did not have a clue about how to improve the schools, so the state is now replacing the powerless elected local board with mayoral control.
Jan Resseger writes here about this absurd turn of events.
Officials from the Ohio Department of Education have begun replacing the locally elected school board in Youngstown with a mayoral appointed school board.
This week we learned about one more extension of autocratic state power backloaded in 2015 into the HB 70’s school district takeover of Youngstown. Because at the end of four years of state takeover, the Youngstown school district earned another “F” on the state report card, the state is now imposing a previously unknown provision of the 2015, HB 70, which established state takeover in the first place.
The replacement of the elected school board in Youngstown with a state-approved, mayoral-appointed school board is designed to punish Youngstown for not raising its grade to “C” during four years of state takeover. What is particularly shocking about the new development is that the locally elected school board has had no role to play in the operation of Youngstown’s schools since the time of the state takeover in 2015. The state has been running the district through a state appointed Academic Distress Commission which appointed a CEO to lead the school district.
Krish Mohip, the state-appointed CEO whose term ended on July 31, was never happy in his position, and last spring, several months prior to the end of his term, Mohip took family medical leave. At the time The Youngstown Vindicator‘s Amanda Tonoli reported that Mohip explained: “I’m going to take care of some issues that have accumulated at home, and I’m going to focus my attention there… I don’t see my absence as being a hindrance to all the great work that’s happened and will continue to happen over the next few years.” Mohip left, but he did not resign. Instead he collected the rest of his $170,000 salary. Tonoli added: “A longevity provision in Mohip’s contract allows him a $10,000 payout if he completes his full contract.”
Nobody was sorry to see Mohip go. The chair of the Academic Distress Commission explained: “We have to uphold what the contract says… We are following the law and following the contract that was agreed upon with Krish Mohip.” The blatant arrogance of Mohip’s mode of departure was merely the latest example of his abuse of the public trust. He did not ever move his family to Youngstown, for example.
A new CEO, Justin Jennings, formerly the school superintendent in Saginaw, Michigan, was recently appointed by the state-appointed, Youngstown Academic Distress Commission.
Under HB 70, the residents of the school district have been permitted by the state to elect a local board of education, but its only power has been to decide whether and when to put a property tax levy on the ballot.
Corporate reformers have run out of ideas. They continue to believe that democracy is the problem, that democracy causes low test scores. Everything they try has failed. They fail and fail. They are shameless.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The A-F grading system for schools and districts in Ohio has been carefully designed to give the state more power to do these “takeover” contracts. They are designed to eliminate any policy voice from elected school boards, teachers, parents, taxpayers. Until there are deep changes in state governance there are sure to be many more fiascos and ripoffs like Youngstown. The Ohio Department of Education is a huge part of the problem.
Ohio is a Corporate Reform State where failure of all state policiesis guaranteed. How many years have State officials meddled without producing any improvement?
“designed” — an exactly correct word here
Youngstown is a funny place. I think they’re known for being “local”- they have a strong identity as a specific city with their own opinions. I don’t think they’re going to take orders on their schools. Ever.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that ed reform would have difficulty there 🙂
Ed Reform fails everywhere, not just in Youngstown.
The state doesn’t know how to fix schools with low rest scores.
With a poverty rate of almost 37%, local governance is not the problem. Bringing in outsiders to manage schools has repeatedly failed in city after city. The local school board is not the problem. This is just another manipulation that scapegoats local governance in order to impose top down privatization on public schools.
And does not produce better results because democracy is not the cause of low test scores.,
“democracy is not the cause of low test scores”! Love it.
published at oped news
https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Louisiana-State-Board-of-E-in-General_News-Educational-Crisis-191016-653.html#comment747453
with two comments.
As the state legislatures take over the local school boards, the confusion regarding the need for public schools is exacerbated by such OPINIONS stated as facts!
Local school boards in the 15,880 separate school systems, allowed parents to participate in providing the schools with the ESSENTIAL LEARNING materials that make it possible for a child to learn. This local control, is the ‘government’ by the people, for the people, and has nothing to do with “indoctrination.”
Moreover, the present culture in our society is creating the much of the problems we see among our children. It ain’t the schools! It IS the unintended consequences of this new era, where information technology (tv and the internet) has replaced the beneficial VALUES that were once offered by family, community, religion and the wisdom of those who know what matters. Kids get all they know about behavior from outside the schools.
If teachers had a say in inculcating values that are valuable, they could immerse children in the literature and stories that show how humans really thrive.
But, with the takeover of the local boards by state legislatures, comes the mandates for curricula that removes all autonomy from the one person who faces that human child for 10 months.
That is the kind of ‘government’ control of education that is ending the profession, so that no longer can an experienced professional, who KNOWS WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE plan to meet the objectives for genuine learning, for enabling and facilitating CRITICAL THINKINg” something required to succeed in doing ANY job.
With nary an educator on board these state ‘government’ entities are corrupt to the core, and after de-funding education to create massive failure the state legislatures gave the schools. over to the private sector; the ‘marketization of education’ enriched the hedge funds and privateers.
GENUINE Teachers and AUTHENTIC schools doNOT indoctrinate our young people as they do in North Korea, China, and in the Madrases of Saudia Arabia. Education and shared knowledge is the BEDROCK of DEMOCRACY. Shared knowledge that MAKES DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE.
An ignorant citizenry is the goal, not just the profit made by the businesses that take over our schools. You cannot have an educated citizenry and elect a Trump. THAT is why the power-elite who own this country have demolished education, and now spread their propaganda. Orwell is turning over in his grave!
I differ in part. Public school teachers on this list are socialists, perhaps even communists, with an hostility to capitalism. Voters suspect this is true of all public school teachers. Taking an axe to the roots of the tree of American capitalism is rejected by at least half of the electorate ( as distributed by electoral college). Thus privatization, vouchers, charters. Trump is a repudiation of socialism, not a vote for him personally. Personally he is crude, dishonest, and has bad judgement, but so idoes capitalism. Yet there is more good in capitalism than socialism if you base your life on pleasure, comfort, and prosperity. Socialism just can’t work because nobody knows enough to plan an economy. That’s why Trump will probably be reelected unless he is impeached and convicted. And THAT gives us Pence. How do you like them apples?
Harlan, save yourself the regurgitation. Just link to the right wing source you parrot.
This is so appalling.
Test and punish. Rinse and repeat. Another cynical $$ grab from reformers. Schools need resources not more “positive disruption” from the business world.
Top down reform efforts are always doomed to fail. Unless there is teacher and staff buy-in to reform efforts, those efforts will never work. Of course, teachers have said thus ad nauseum to no avail because the top is too busy looking for reasons to scapegoat teachers rather than have teachers have a platform to explain just how ridiculous the top really is.
I was a teacher in the Youngstown Public School system…..I retired in 2016 in the midst of the takeover…..all along the process no one asked teachers their opinion or to relate their experiences as teachers in the front lines of a failing system……their heavy handed top down interventionist style was never going to be successful in Youngstown……at least if measured by standardized tests…I took a few classes on testing and measurement and one thing that stressed was that if all or most failed your test it wasn’t the students’ fault……but your test is faulty……so I would start with bias in the testing.