Youngstown City Schools Has a New CEO

by Michelle Faust

The New CEO of Youngstown City Schools signed his contract Tuesday.

A crowd of hundreds gathered to meet former Chicago school administrator Krish Mohip, who said his first task is to listen to the community’s input about what students in Youngstown need.

Mohip’s not averse to working in troubled schools, when he worked in Chicago City Schools he was in charge of turning them around.

The teacher’s union has previously expressed concern that the CEO could unilaterally close schools and fire teachers, but Mohip tried to alleviate that worry.

“You have to build on what you have. You need to provide professional development and training for teachers and principals. And once you have that, you’ve built a sustainable path forward so that improvement can occur year in and year out, regardless of whoever’s leading.”

The CEO position is a new one created by legislation pass just under a year ago. Last July, Governor John Kasich signed the controversial HB 70 that caused the state takeover of the Youngstown City School district.

Audience members at the event to meet Mohip were openly critical of the law.

Reverend Kenneth Simon is the Senior Pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church. He was one of many religious community leaders at Tuesday’s meeting advocating for more community involvement in the schools overhaul.

“We’re giving the CEO more power than the Lord has to just run a district the way he sees fit,” says Simon. He also worries the bill was an attempt to privatize Youngstown schools.

Mohip says that’s not his plan, “I’ve never seen a district just outsource all schools to charters and say this is how we’re going to work. It’s kind of the antithesis of what I’ve done.”