Aggressive rhetoric unnecessary, board member says

“I don’t feel David Hardy has done anything to help our students.”

— Barbie Washington, a Lorain parent and co-founder of the grassroots It Takes a Village to Tackle HB 70 group,

Lorain City Schools board members are dissatisfied with the governance of the district, but they need to choose their words carefully, said board member Yvonne Johnson. On May 15, the Lorain Schools board approved resolutions supporting repeal of House Bill 70, which the board dubbed Ohio’s school takeover law, and supporting return of control of the district to the board. Johnson called out the board for using the word “dictatorial” in the language of the legislation. She also said Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer has used the word dictator to describe Hardy. Neither Ritenauer nor Hardy were at the meeting. “I just don’t like the word dictatorial,” Johnson said. “I think we should be very careful when we are using language like that. “Our students still see information like that, they hear it and I think there are other terms we can use when we are discussing the CEO even though we may not have a positive agenda in mind for him.” Looking over the world, Hardy is not in the same basket as real political dictators, Johnson said. Hardy’s behavior has been upsetting and irregular for the board, but that comes from HB 70, she said. Hardy also has corrected earlier erroneous statements about teacher attendance rates. Having done so, it is not fair to hold it against him for making a mistake, and some of his curriculum pieces could be saved, she said. Johnson acknowledged other things have been painful for teachers and confusing to administrators, but nobody has a cohesive balance in working together, and that is partly the responsibility of the board, Johnson said. Her comments touched off more discussion in the board’s meeting. “So, in the future we’ll call them visitors instead of a takeover, that probably would be better,” said board President Mark Ballard. “I don’t need sarcasm,” Johnson replied. “That’s just my personal opinion. “You just have to be careful with the words that you use because words are significant and they can cause difficulties.” After Johnson spoke, Barbie Washington, a Lorain parent and co-founder of the grassroots It Takes a Village to Tackle HB 70 group, asked for an example of when Hardy was collaborative instead of dictatorial. “I don’t feel David Hardy has done anything to help our students,” Washington said, adding she would like him to apologize for ruining her students’ school year. Board member Timothy Williams said Washington’s question was inappropriate when Johnson was remarking on language. The language and atmosphere create feelings of hostility, Williams said, but the board members do not want to be combative. Johnson at first did not name historic or current political figures, but then cited historic political dictators such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. She also mentioned President Trump. Resident Linda Lee said the president name calls, but Lorain does not need a mayor who does that. Instead, Lorain’s elected officials should show some professionalism, Lee said. “All of the negativity, it’s just not necessary,” she said. Sherdenia Strnad, who works in the school administrative office, said she supported Johnson’s comments. “As Yvonne said, we need to think about the children,” Strnad said. “Quit fighting Mr. Hardy; all this stuff was happening before Mr. Hardy came. “But you want to blame Mr. Hardy. Mr. Hardy is not the fault, the reason, why this stuff is happening. And we need to stop blaming Mr. Hardy and think about our children.”

Johnson

Ballard