Staff photo / Raymond L. Smith Paolo DeMaria, Ohio’s superintendent of public instruction, will receive a list of potential candidates for the next Youngstown school board by Nov. 1.

YOUNGSTOWN — Potential candidates for the next Youngstown school board are expected to be sent to Paolo DeMaria, Ohio’s superintendent of public instruction, by Nov. 1.

The list then will be reviewed and presented to the nominating panel before Nov. 7. The goal is for that panel to present the candidates to Mayor Jamael Tito Brown by Nov. 8, and he will choose five.

“We have to present the list of candidates to the mayor within 30 days of the formation of this panel,” DeMaria told the seven voting members of the panel Thursday at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School, where the panel was officially put in place.

DeMaria told panel members that it is up to them to determine how they select candidates for the new school board.

Individual panel members may seek out candidates through whatever selection process they choose, simply select applications from people wanting to serve on the board, or some hybrid of the two processes.

The panel selecting the candidates consists of Germaine Bennett; Thomas DeGenova; Jeremy Batchelor, who is a representative from district principals; Jane Haggerty; Rikki Queener, a parent representative; John Richard, the head of the district’s academic distress commission; Justin Jennings, the district’s CEO; and DeMaria, who is a nonvoting member of the panel.

DeMaria emphasized that the state provided a few criteria for the board candidates, including:

* All candidates must live in the area of the Youngstown City School District;

* Two candidates will be from communities that the Youngstown city schools represent, but are outside of Youngstown city limits — Boardman, Campbell and Coitsville;

* None of the candidates can currently be in elected positions;

* Two candidates must have significant expertise in education, business and finances. It will be up to the panel, however, to define the term”significant” for the purpose of selection.

Candidates on the ballot now for the school board, but who are not already in elected positions, may be considered for the appointed school board.

Although the panel must provide at least 10 candidates, it can provide Mayor Jamael Tito Brown more than that. Brown will have 30 days from the day he receives the candidates to select the five school board members.

The school board chosen by Brown will continue for at least three years after the academic distress commission ceases to exist. The panel selecting the school board members will continue to exist throughout the term of the school board.

“It will have an advise and consent role, if, during the term, the mayor wants to remove one of the board members,” DeMaria said.

Richard said the panel likely will continue for at least five years, which is when residents may have the opportunity to decide to keep the board system as it is being formed under House Bill 70, or return to an elected board.

The state in 2015 passed HB 70, which established rules for schools in academic distress. Youngstown, having received four Fs in four years on the Ohio Report Card, now finds itself in a position in which the currently elected board must be replaced because of the failing grades.

Queener, who has two children attending Youngstown schools, said she will be looking for candidates who are passionate and are willing to listen to other people’s views before making decisions.

Batchelor, a principal at East High School, will accept applications from residents, but also will seek recommendations from principals who selected him to the selection panel.

Jennings said he is interested in candidates willing to work with the academic distress commission as well as his office.

Current school board member Tina Cvetkovich questioned why those candidates who may win board of education seats in the November election, but who are not currently in elected positions, would be able to be appointed to the next board.

“It is not democratic,” Cvetkovich said. “I know they will not be in elected positions at the time of the selections but, if they win board seats in November, they will have been chosen by the electorate.”

Cvetkovich is concerned that current school board members or other elected officials will not have the opportunity to be considered for the next board under HB 70.

School board member Jacqueline Adair said this whole process is a ploy by the state to take over the district and allow charter schools and their operators to get hold of Youngstown’s budget.

“The only reprieve for the duly elected board will be what happens in the Ohio Supreme Court or with the state legislative body,” she said.

The current board of education has taken legal action to overturn HB 70 and its provisions for fixing ailing school districts. Oral arguments for the case will be heard Oct. 23 in Montpelier.

rsmith@tribtoday.com