Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The board of education will lead a workshop Saturday aimed at a statewide conversation on leadership in urban school governance, improvement and transformation.

The workshop is scheduled 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Choffin Career and Technical Center, 200 E. Wood St. It also is sponsored by the Ohio Mid-sized Urban District Collaborative and the East Cleveland City Schools. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Eugene T. W. Sanders, chief executive officer and superintendent for the Sandusky City Schools, will outline the workshop’s goals. Dan Hilson, a lawyer with Roetzel and Andres in Columbus, will then provide an update on academic distress commissions and other related proposals impacting public schools.

Brenda Kimble, Youngstown Board of Education president, will lead a discussion on the overall impact of an academic distress commission — such as the one in place in Youngstown — on local control, economic development and academic growth of school districts.

There also will be a panel providing a legal update on lawsuits filed by school districts impacted by academic distress commissions.

Other topics to be discussed are the use of educational vouchers, the governance of school boards, transformation and reforms of public schools and workforce development.

The Youngstown Board of Education also will have a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the community room of Youngstown Rayen Early College, 20 W. Wood St., that will feature Darold Johnson, director of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, providing a history of House Bill 70.

That legislation placed a CEO in Youngstown schools to oversee daily operations under the authority of an academic distress commission — an effort to address faltering academic performance.

There also will be a recognition ceremony for outgoing board members, as well as for the work of the Rev. Kenneth Simon of New Bethel Baptist Church and Lock P. Beachum Jr. of Victory Christian Center.

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