YOUNGSTOWN — Two of the three Ohio school districts answering to academic distress commissions wound up hiring their state-imposed chief executive officers as superintendents.

Lorain, East Cleveland and Youngstown are under state control due to their failures to get above an “F” grade on the state report card for at least four consecutive years. CEOs were given authority over most district decision-making — taking it away from the elected school boards.

Youngstown schools CEO Justin Jennings was hired by the state ADC in August 2019. He said he would be interested in the superintendent job here should it become available.

“It would be a good idea as the transition — to have the person who has been here for the staff and scholars — for that to happen,” Jennings said. “I hope my work speaks for itself. The community understands what we are trying to do. I think, for the most part, the school board does, too.”

He said overwhelming support for passage of the recent school levy indicates public support for the actions he has taken. “We were told a levy could not be passed,” he said.

COULD IT HAPPEN?

In Lorain, Jeff Graham was hired by the state in 2020, with significant input from the local board, to be the district’s third CEO — with the understanding that he will be Lorain’s superintendent when the district is removed from state control.

Henry Pettiegrew II was hired to be East Cleveland’s CEO in February 2019 by its state ADC. By July 2019, East Cleveland’s school board had voted he also would be that district’s superintendent.

Joseph Meranto serves as the Youngstown school district’s superintendent.

There have been no formal discussions by members of the Youngstown Board of Education about the possibility of naming Jennings superintendent should the district move from under state control.

Ronald Shadd, board president, said he would like to see communication between the board and Jennings significantly improved.

“Mr. Jennings has not spoken to the board about any method of transition from the CEO model to a regular superintendent / board of education model of operations,” Shadd said.

Shadd has been emphasizing a repair and transition model, where the school board will be given increased responsibilities in the hiring process and voting on rules in the district.

“The (elected) board would like to be part of the discussion in the decision-making process,” Shadd said.

Former school board president Brenda Kimble said she would like a candidate for the next superintendent to be willing to communicate with the board, even if that person doesn’t want to.

So far, she said, that has not been happening with Jennings.

“We are given information after the fact,” Kimble said. “He is not asking our opinion. We are supposed to be aware of what is happening in the district.”

But Jennings said he has worked closely with the school board members who have contacted him.

“We try to get their questions answered,” he said. “We have been transparent. We have been fiscally responsible for what we’ve doing.”

Jennings said because he is a decision-making body on his own, “sometimes, I may not be making a decision that the school board wants or they may agree with. They may want to know before I make a decision.”

He added: “Regardless of what happens, we will leave a blueprint for the next person who comes in to be successful. Have we gotten to where we want to get? Absolutely not. Our focus will be on academics.”

NEVER CONSIDERED

There was never any consideration of hiring the district’s first CEO Krish Mohip, who announced he would be leaving the district in October 2018, eight months before his contract was scheduled to end.

Board members said Mohip did little to establish a working relationship with the elected board. They also criticized the elimination of a variety of the district’s academic programs, the loss of a multi-million-dollar budget surplus that existed before state takeover and the hiring of new employees into six-figure salaries.

Mohip, according to Shadd, did not have an Ohio superintendent license, so the district could not place him in the superintendent’s position even if members felt he would be able to do the job.

Shadd said there has been some communication improvement between Jennings and the school board, but adds Jennings generally has used Superintendent Meranto as a liaison between himself and the school board.

“He said he will attend school board meetings once a month, when it fits his schedule,” Shadd said.

The CEO has allowed the board to use the district robo-call system to get parents more involved in meetings.

Youngstown ADC Chairman John Richard, Jennings and Shadd have since January begun to meet once a month to discuss school district issues.

EAST CLEVELAND

East Cleveland’s Pettiegrew is the district’s first CEO since the state’s takeover of that district in 2018.

Pettiegrew said he’s worked to establish a relationship with school board members by including them in the decision-making process whenever possible.

Pettiegrew developed relationships with East Cleveland residents by doing listening tours around the district, hearing concerns of residents and other stake holders.

“We’ve been able to build relationships with residents because we’ve worked to be as transparent as possible,” he said. “We reduced the number of buildings — right-sized the district — because it lost about 65 percent of its student population even before the state takeover.”

Mary Rice, a member of East Cleveland’s school board and a vocal critic of the CEO model, said East Cleveland’s school board acquiesced to Pettiegrew’s request to be voted the district’s superintendent– in the spirit of cooperation with the new CEO.

“We wanted to ease the community into the transition of having a state-appointed CEO,” Rice said. “I would have liked it to have worked out better.”

Rice said naming Pettiegrew superintendent has not, so far, worked to encourage him to involve the board in the decision-making process in determining the district’s direction.

“He meets with the board once a month,” she said. “He tell us his plan. He will ask our opinions and explain his rationales.”

Ultimately the decisions are Pettiegrew’s to make, regardless of what concerns of the board may be, Rice said.

In recent months, Pettiegrew has been taking school board President Una Keenon on his listening tours around the district, according to Rice.

As to whether Pettiegrew may be reappointed superintendent when the district is removed from state control, Rice said some board members would support that effort.

LORAIN SCHOOLS

Lorain school board President Mark Ballard described his board’s work with its first CEO, David Harvey, as similar to Youngstown’s relationship with Mohip.

“We did not see eye to eye,” Ballard said. “He came in and fired all of the teachers and made them reapply for their jobs He brought in teachers from out of state that only had temporary licenses. He was not certified to be a superintendent.”

Ballard described Harvey as a dictator. “It never was going to work,” he said.

Harvey left in 2019, after two years.

“The state allowed the local board and community to have input in the selection of the next CEO,” Ballard noted.

There was a temporary CEO named while a national search took place for a permanent replacement.

The district had three candidates, including, Jeff Graham, who had served as Lorain City Schools superintendent from August 2015 to December 2017.

“Graham, as it turned out, was the best of the candidates,” Ballard said.

He was unanimously selected to be the district’s third CEO by members of the Lorain ADC in May 2020. At the time of his selection, he was the Canton City Schools superintendent.

Ballard said the school board, as a vote of confidence, voted to name Graham as the superintendent when the district eventually moves from under state control.

“He runs the district as traditionally as possible,” Ballard said. “Although, ultimately while the final decision is his to make, Graham will take different issues before the board to discuss. We work together.”

Ballard said before the state closed schools due to the pandemic, the district appeared to be moving from an overall “F” grade on the state report card to a “D” grade.

rsmith@tribtoday.com