Academic Distress Commission chair to be named on May 12

The chair of the new Lorain Academic Distress Commission is to be announced at the first meeting at 9 a.m., May 12, at Lorain High School.

The meeting is in the Media Center.

If attending, enter the main entrance of the school at 2600 Ashland Ave. in Lorain.

According to an email from Dr. John Richard, deputy superintendent of the Ohio Department of Education:

“Our state Superintendent Paolo DeMaria will name the chair of the (academic distress commission) at that meeting, which in turn starts the 60-day clock to name the (chief executive officer),” Richard wrote. “We will work with you and your legal counsel to assist in agenda development for the meeting, as well as ideas for conducting the search for the CEO.”

The former Lorain Academic Distress Commission dissolved March 6, and five new commission members were appointed in April as a result of House Bill 70, a different law. The district has not demonstrated academic improvement high enough to be removed from the designation of academic distress.

The new commission members include Michele Soliz, assistant vice president of student success and inclusion at the University of Toledo; Patricia O’Brien, executive director of The Stocker Foundation; Anthony Richardson, program officer of the Nord Family Foundation; John Monteleone, assistant superintendent at Oberlin City Schools; and teacher Dorinda Hall, an academic instruction coach, with an alternate of teacher Steve Cawthon.

Four of the five distress commission members have close ties with Lorain.

The chief executive officer, once appointed, will have the powers of a superintendent and a school board combined, except for the authority to place a tax levy on the ballot. The new commission’s main role is hiring the CEO.