School board leader announces run for mayor in 2019

Lorain School Board President Tony Dimacchia has officially announced his run for mayor of the city in 2019.

Dimacchia, 42, acknowledged his public announcement is early for the election next year.

But, he said the time is needed to prepare a successful campaign to lead Lorain.

“This decision that I’ve made, to put my hat in the ring to run for mayor, is not something you make overnight,” Dimacchia said. “It takes a lot of preparation to prepare for a position like this.

“I want to give myself as many opportunities as I possibly can to get out into the community and talk to people and prepare myself to run an effective and good campaign, so people can understand who I am and what I’m about and why I’m doing this.”

In making the decision, Dimacchia, a Democrat, said he has consulted with people in the community and the political arena.

He noted he has friends who have left the city seeking jobs or for other reasons, but his family stayed in the city.

Mayor Chase Ritenauer’s second four-year term of office ends Dec. 31, 2019.

Ritenauer, a Democrat, has not announced his intention about seeking the seat again.

Dimacchia was elected to the Lorain City School Board of Education in 2008. He is in his third term on that board.

After six years working Lorain City Schools, Dimacchia in 2009 joined the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lorain County.

He now is director of operations for that organization.

Dimacchia is a graduate of the former Lorain Catholic High School, where he attended to play sports due to reductions in athletics at Lorain Schools when he was ready for high school.

He is the son of Rich and Rosemary Dimacchia, a retired steelworker and a Lorain school teacher, respectively.

“All our roots are right here in Lorain, and I’m proud to be in Lorain,” Dimacchia said.

Dimacchia has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Tiffin University and master’s degrees in curriculum and instruction and education administration from Bowling Green State University.

He is a father of three children still in school.

Lorain Schools currently are in the state’s “academic distress” category, with oversight by an appointed Academic Distress Commission.

That board appointed David Hardy Jr. as chief executive officer to lead the turnaround plan; the CEO’s authority supersedes that of the school board.

Regardless of the Academic Distress Commission, Dimacchia said the Lorain Board of Education has led improvements in the schools.

He gave examples such as Lorain Schools having new buildings, good vocational education programs and a good relationship between the school board and unions representing workers. “I wanted to make Lorain City Schools better,” he said. “If I can come in and in my time on that board, if this school is better than it was when I got there, then I can be proud of the work that we’ve done.

“And I am proud of the work that we’ve done, regardless of the current situation with the distress commission and the law and all that.”

Based on state criteria, Lorain Schools is a “failing” school district, Dimacchia said.

“I say that in quotes because, that’s not true,” he said.

“I would say that’s an inaccurate evaluation of Lorain City Schools. Again, the perception is sometimes extremely negative, and perception is, a lot of times, false.”

The state measurements such as the Ohio Department of Education’s school district report cards mean little to parents and students, Dimacchia said.

Parents who have concerns about Lorain Schools should visit the buildings to see how children get a good education in the district, he said.

Deciding to run for mayor, Dimacchia said he considered his own children and how to make Lorain a city they want to stay in or return to and be proud of.

Dimacchia