The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
CEO Ring in place, but questions remain
Budget cuts, public meetings and policy reviews are in the mix for the new year as Lorain City Schools finishes the second half of the 2019-2020 school year.
On Jan. 13, the Lorain Schools Board of Education held its organizational meeting and first regular meeting of 2020.
Board members Mark Ballard, Bill Sturgill, Yvonne Johnson, Courtney Nazario and Timothy Williams were joined by Interim CEO Greg Ring.
“All very familiar faces around the table, so welcome,” Ballard said. “Except for Mr. Ring. It’s good to have a superintendent/ CEO back at the table, and welcome, sir.”
The audience applauded Ballard’s remarks and Lorain Academic Distress Commission member Steve Cawthon later echoed his comments, welcoming the CEO to the meetings.
It was the first time in more than two years that the school district CEO attended a board meeting.
Former CEO David Hardy Jr. did not go to them and the school board members lamented the lack of communication between the elected officials and appointed chief executive.
The Jan. 13 meeting included open discussions about specific issues and school policy in general.
Ring was announced for the job in December and began Jan. 3.
But the change in chief executive did not provide instant answers for a number of questions looming in the district.
Meet the CEO
On Jan. 13, Ring said he began visiting the school buildings to speak to anyone who wishes to talk with him.
He started at Stevan Dohanos Elementary and Ring said he will continue that practice through the end of the month.
February, likely, will bring a series of public community meetings to continue the collaborative process Ring said he would use.
Ring said those gatherings likely will take place in the evenings at Lorain’s three middle schools.
Exact dates and times will be published later at lorainschools.org.
Financial cuts coming?
In November 2019, Lorain Schools voters renewed a seven-year, 5.15-mill emergency levy that will raise more than $3.12 million a year.
Even with that levy, Ring acknowledged Lorain Schools’ five-year forecast shows budget deficits projected to be more than $2.92 million for the end of this school year and more than $6 million at the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
“We’ll continue to look at that, and I would think in the near future, we’ll have a proposal to share with the board and move ahead with that,” Ring said. “It’s my intent to have some reductions.”
The school district cannot sustain a budget deficit of $6 million at the end of the next school year, Ring said.
“So, anything that we can do now to save some dollars, in terms of our budget, then that’s going to behoove our district for several years down the road,” he said.
Resident Barbie Washington, co-founder of the grassroots group It Takes a Village to Tackle House Bill 70, asked about the finances during the Jan. 13 meeting.
The figures were confirmed in the October 2019 forecast published on lorainschools.org.
More questions
Washington was not alone speaking from the gallery.
Teachers Julie Garcia and Rona Lauricia, parent Sumer Harvey and Bambi Dillon, levy campaign manager and treasurer for Citizens for Lorain Schools, all had questions about district spending, policies and staff.
For example, Garcia referred to a notice emailed from Scott Dieter, director of early childhood education, to teachers in grades pre-K to two.
Dieter apparently announced the district will buy a curriculum supplement for teachers to develop phonemic awareness skills of students.
Teachers are to receive training in February.
“The teachers in my building have no idea what this is about,” Garcia said.
She said she had no contact with Dieter about the district’s elementary reading program, which has been in place for six years.
“And now it’s February and you’re going to throw a new curriculum at us, to tell us to sing and do all kinds of different things in the bathroom line?” Garcia
asked. “It’s just kind of startling that now we’re going to get a curriculum that nobody has any say so, nobody’s done any (professional development.)”
That announced change prompted questions in his first building visit, Ring said.
He said he has not yet spoken to Dieter about the change, but agreed teachers need to have a say in curriculum decisions, such as supplemental educational programs.
Potential audits
Nazario asked whether the district actually has purchased materials for the program.
In November 2019, the Lorain Academic Distress Commission directed Hardy to not enter new contracts or adjust workers’ contracts.
That barred him from making major purchases for the district on his way out, Nazario said.
It did not appear the district bought the materials, but the school leaders need to check on it, said Diane Xander, Lorain Academic Distress Commission member.
Dillon and Harvey asked about a potential audit to review exactly what are the spending and educational practices of the district.
State auditors review the finances of Lorain Schools every year, Ring.
Not every purchase or move by the administration is illegal, Harvey said, so purchases that Hardy or his administration approved might not be flagged in a state audit.
School district attorney Anthony Giardini and Lorain Law Director Pat Riley agreed a state audit would examine the legality of district spending, but not declare a decision, purchase or policy was good or bad for the district.
School district expenses also are posted on lorainschools.org.
Get organized
In their organizational meeting, the Lorain Schools Board members witnessed the swearing in of Nazario, who in November was elected to her first term on the Board.
She was appointed last year to replace board member Tony Dimacchia, who left to take a seat on Lorain City Council.
The Board elected Ballard to serve president and Sturgill as vice president.
The Lorain Schools Board will meet at 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the media center of Lorain High School, 2600 Ashland Ave.
Meetings are open to the public.
Board meetings also are webcast on Lorain Schools TV 20 channel, which posts videos on Facebook and YouTube.