YOUNGSTOWN — The new school year will bring several administrative changes as the Youngstown City School District strives to trim costs to the tune of at least $1.4 million.

The changes aim to improve efficiencies, said Justin Jennings, the school district’s chief administrative officer. “We’re making some changes to better meet the needs of our scholars and the school district,” he said.

But some board of education members question if that will make a big enough impact on district finances.

“Right now, based on the information we’ve been given, he has moved chairs around on the deck of the Titanic,” board member Jacqueline Adair said. “These moves are not what we are talking about. If there are savings, the district is going to have to do more than this.”

The district is ending its contracts with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, through which some employees worked in the city schools. Some of those employees will become district employees.

Additional savings will be realized as positions of some administrators who are resigning this month won’t be filled. Also, the contracts for the principals of the district’s pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade schools are being reduced from 12 to 11 months.

One of the positions that is being eliminated is the chief of schools, which is now held by Sonya Gordon, who is leaving the district for another job.

Gordon’s salary was $125,000 but the savings are higher because of benefits, according to a district spokeswoman.

The ninth-grade academies at East and Chaney are being eliminated. Roshay Huff, who served as principal of East’s ninth-grade academy, will be principal at Kirkmere Elementary School beginning next year. She is paid $101,250 annually.

Eboni Williams, Chaney’s ninth-grade principal, will be co-principal at William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School. She is paid $102,250 and will oversee sixth through eighth grades, while Aaron Bouie will be over the school’s lower grades.

Other contracts and salaries have not been finalized, the spokeswoman said.

TIMING

Announcement of changes comes as the board of education is debating Jennings’ request to place a renewal levy before voters to generate more than $5 million per year. The current levy ends in December.

Board members Adair, Ronald Shadd, Brenda Kimble, Jerome Williams and Tina Cvetkovich all have said Jennings should be held more accountable for the spending of funds before the levy is passed.

Kimble, school board president, said it appears that Jennings and his staff are moving in the right direction in answering questions about work assignments of some of the district’s higher-paid positions.

“We will not know the effectiveness of these changes on finances until we get details about the salaries of those changing positions,” Kimble said. “Will there be salary reductions? What will be the total savings? Will money saved be reallocated into instructional programs for students?”

Kimble said because Jennings likes to call students “scholars,” it is important to return some of the estimated $13 million in cuts made over the years in educational programs back to the district to maximize their learning opportunities.

Adair also wants to see specifics about the estimated savings and questions how the moves of these administrators will improve the quality of education.

“When they moved (Jeremy) Batchelor to East High School, it was in chaos” in 2019, Adair said. “Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in chaos. He has been able to turn that school around in a year.”

In fact Batchelor was named Administrator of the Year by the Ohio Alliance of Black School Educators. Batchelor will move into the central office as special assistant to Jennings.

Adair questions if district employees from Choffin Career and Technical Center being transferred to other schools will be able to achieve the same success in turning around their new school buildings.

She questions whether there will be significant cuts to the district’s athletic department, which she said greatly contributes to the district’s costs.

STAFF MOVES

According to information provided by the school district administration, these changes amount to a savings of more than $1.4 million:

• Choffin Career and Technical Center’s leadership will be reduced from three principals to one.

Michael Saville, who has been one of the school’s three principals for the last three years, will be the school’s only principal. All three of the principals had been employees of the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center. Beginning July 1, Saville will be a school district employee.

“The partnerships for Choffin and with the ESC for some administrative employees served the district well for the last few years. We’ve now reached a point at YCSD where we believe we can meet our needs and the needs of our scholars in house,” Jennings said.

• Maurice Taylor, who also has been a Choffin principal for the last three years, will be the principal at East High School next year with Batchelor moving to his new position.

“I am extremely honored and excited to join the East High School Golden Bear family,” Taylor said. “The goal is to work with families, staff, community partners and, more importantly, the scholars to make East High School one of the top high schools in the Mahoning Valley.”

At Choffin, Taylor worked to advance academic initiatives, improve curriculum, school climate and parent / guardian relationships. During his tenure at Choffin the school’s overall grade went from failing to earning a “B” on the most recent state report card.

Prior to his time at Choffin, Taylor served as an instructional supervisor and intervention specialist with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center.

While finishing his degree, Taylor served as an assistant varsity football coach at Warren G. Harding High School, his alma mater. Along with being a varsity assistant, Taylor worked in Warren City Schools as an educational assistant and substitute teacher.

Taylor earned his bachelor’s degree from Kent State University and holds a masters of special education cross-categorical K-12 (Grand Canyon University) and masters of educational leadership and policy studies (The University of Texas Arlington).

• Bridget Lambright, who joined Choffin as a principal for the 2019-20 school year, will serve next year as the principal at Rayen Early College Middle School. Deborah DiFrancesco, Rayen Early College’s principal for the last several years, will move to the central office.

Lambright has been in education for 23 years. Her areas of expertise are maintaining high expectations, college- and career-readiness and applying best practices.

“I was a college dropout before I was a college graduate and that crushing defeat led to some of the hardest moments in my life,” she said.

“Since my first day in education, I have promised myself that every scholar who crosses my path will get the skills to pay the bills. Youngstown’s scholars have so much potential for greatness and I feel honored to be able to play a role in preparing them.”

Her experiences include serving in the Army and earning a bachelor’s degree in English, a teaching certificate and a master’s degree in education administration from Cleveland State University in 1998.

Lambright’s teaching and leadership experiences have been in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District. She also has served on Ohio Department of Education committees and given presentations around the nation. Lambright received The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher award.

• Tascin Brooks, food service coordinator since 2016, will become chief of food services, effective July 1. Susan Paris, who has filled that role for many years, is retiring June 30.

“Sue has done a tremendous job as food service chief, and her whole department has risen to the challenge during the coronavirus pandemic these last few months,” Jennings said. “Tascin has been an integral part of all of that, and I’m confident that food service will continue to flourish under her leadership.”

Before joining the city schools, Brooks worked as food service director in the Austintown Local School District for six years. She also works as an adjunct faculty member for Youngstown State University in the Food and Nutrition Department.

• Jason Yemma, who has served as an instructional framework specialist for three years, becomes Chaney’s new assistant principal. Before becoming an instructional coach, Yemma worked as a teacher at Chaney. The latest move is a sort of return to his city school district roots.

“As an educator coming back to Chaney, I will promote a positive culture and further strengthen professional relationships with staff, scholars, families and other stakeholders. As a new leader in the school, I will continue to build the environment of high academic achievement that has already been established,” Yemma said.

Yemma earned his bachelor’s degree in middle childhood education from Youngstown State University after first earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from YSU and working as a retail / restaurant manager. He’ll graduate in August with a masters of education in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education.

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