UPDATE | Judge delays new Youngstown Schools board appointments
YOUNGSTOWN — A county judge has delayed the appointment of a new Youngstown Schools board.
The Ohio Department of Education this morning released a list of new candidates for the school board, from which city Mayor Jamael Tito Brown is expected to choose by Dec. 9, according to state statute.
Current school board members earlier this week filed preliminary injunction to stop city Mayor Brown from making those appointments under that statute, House Bill 70 — also called the "Youngstown Plan" — which allows a wipe of the school board after four years of underperformance.
Attorneys for the board argued though HB 70 has been law for four years, it's only been in effect in the school district for three. The suit also contends that HB 70's constitutionality is still under consideration by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Attorneys who appeared this afternoon before visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny agreed to delay the appointments until the state's high court has ruled on HB 70. Justices heard oral arguments on it late last month.
City Law Director Jeff Limbian said following the hearing Judge Pokorny was "fair and appropriate" to allow attorneys to stipulate the agreement to delay the appointments.
"The mayor's position has been all along simply to follow the law," Limbian said. "If the statute says he is to make appointments, that is what he intends to do. If the Supreme Court determines that's not a component of the equation, he'll do whatever the Supreme Court says to do."
Judge Pokorny set a status hearing for April.
Meanwhile, below is the full list of Youngstown City Schools board of education nominees, chosen by a nominating panel made up of district administrators, employees and representatives of parents:
- Kimberly Benson, nominated by schools CEO Justin Jennings
- Kelan Bilal, nominated by East High School Principal Jeremy Batchelor
- Barbara Brothers, nominated by Jennings
- James Brown, nominated by P.C Bunn Elementary Parent Engagement Coordinator Rikki Queener
- Maurya Brown, nominated by Queener
- Jolyn Bush, nominated by Taft Elementary teacher Jane Haggerty
- Kenneth Donaldson, nominated by Batchelor and former district administrator Germaine Bennett
- Barbara Zban Flinn, nominated by Bennett
- George Freeman Jr., nominated by Jennings
- Ruthie D. King, nominated by Jennings
- Andrew Mahone, nominated by Jennings
- Barbara Lynn Mitchell, nominated by Queener
- Tiffany Patterson, nominated by Bennett and YSU faculty member Thomas DeGenova
- Jan Pentz, nominated by Haggerty
- Jane Sadinski, nominated by John Richard, the district's Academic Distress Commission chairman
- Nia Simms, nominated by Jennings and DeGenova
- John J. Spivey Jr., nominated by Bennett
- Lois E. Thornton, nominated by Bennett
- Harry C. Turner, nominated by Jennings
This story was originally published November 6, 2019 at 3:23 PM with the headline "UPDATE | Judge delays new Youngstown Schools board appointments."