The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Mayor seeks school summit
Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer is requesting an educational summit with the Lorain City Schools board, Lorain Academic Distress Commission and school district CEO David Hardy Jr.
On Feb. 13, Ritenauer sent out his invitation and is proposing the joint meeting at 5 p.m. Feb. 26 at Lorain High School.
“The time is now for this important face-to-face meeting,” Ritenauer said. “Delaying any longer jeopardizes the Lorain City Schools District, both now, and into the future.
“Email chains, name calling in the newspaper and town hall meetings by one party will not suffice.”
Ritenauer generally does not attend school board meetings, but sat in for discussions at the board’s Jan. 28 meeting.
Hardy generally attends Lorain Academic Distress Commission meetings, but does not attend school board meetings.
Although he does not control the agenda, Ritenauer asked for updates on:
• The status of public records requests made by Lorain Schools Board and Diane Conibear-Xander
• Equitable treatment of every member of the Academic Distress Commission
• Status of levy renewal. What needs to happen for school board to consider placement on the 2019 General Election ballot?
• Update on safety protocol and progress
• Communication of information, that is, teacher attendance, to stakeholders
The mayor first suggested
the joint meeting during deliberations at the Jan. 28 Lorain Schools board meeting.
In the Feb. 13 invitation, he referred to a number of pending issues for Lorain Schools.
ConibearXander is Ritenauer’s latest appointee to the Lorain Academic Distress Commission.
She has commented publicly about requesting information from the CEO’s administration, but has not received answers.
The school levy has become a long-term sticking point with board of education members Mark Ballard, Tony Dimacchia, Yvonne Johnson, Bill Sturgill and Timothy Williams.
Since at least February 2018, the board members have said they have received little, if any, formal communication from Hardy on plans to get Lorain Schools out of the state’s “academic distress” rating.
“The chief executive officer has near complete authority under House Bill 70,
but the school board retains the power to place a levy or a bond issue on the ballot,” Ritenauer wrote.
He referred to the Ohio law governing Lorain Schools in the state’s academic distress rating.
“To me, this makes clear the importance of the Lorain City Schools Board and the need for the board to be at the table for decision making,” Ritenauer wrote. “Likewise, if information is provided and a true commitment
is made to include the school board, the board should not delay in placing a levy renewal on the November ballot.”
They have said they need more information before asking Lorain voters to consider renewing a $3.12 million levy that will come off the books at the end of 2019.
In a letter to the Titan Community, Hardy declined Ritenauer’s invitation, citing his confidence in his communication with
Ballard as being the strongest and most consistent communication between him and any sitting Board member during his tenure as CEO of Lorain City Schools.
“As the work that remains is of the utmost importance - and commands the attention of all parties involved in the decision making process - I believe it is in the best interest of our district, and its children, that any discussions
pertaining to our future are reserved to be heard by a full Academic Distress Commission,” Hardy wrote.
Hardy added that he looked forward to continued collaboration with the School Board through Ballard.
“In the near future, we plan to bring our conversations o the entire School Board to discuss, with the understanding that any conversations had are to be productive ones, and will continue to align with the established duties of the Academic Distress Commission’s monitoring of the progress of the Lorain Promise,” Hardy wrote.
School safety has been a source of continuing public discourse this school year.
Some have argued student behavior has gotten worse because they do not fear the consequences of the district’s new restorative disciplinary process, instead of suspensions.
Others have claimed the worries about student safety are exaggerated.
Meanwhile, Lorain Education Association Jay Pickering has taken aim at Hardy’s claims of relatively high teacher absences in the last two school years.