Portage County NAACP slams Rootstown board choices, won’t be ‘cover’ for a board uncommitted to change
The Portage County NAACP condemned the Rootstown Board of Education’s decision to appoint two white men involved in youth football to fill its vacant seats, despite receiving applications from highly qualified women amid calls for more diversity among school leaders.
Three women who applied for the open seats hold master’s degrees in education, one specializing in youth mental health and two with more than 15 years in special education each, according to applications obtained by The Portager.
Neither of the two new board members holds a college degree, though they are active in the community and have skills that Board President Amanda Waesch says make them suitable for the role. One is the chief of the Brimfield Fire Department. The other is general manager of a Garrettsville car dealership.
“The Portage County NAACP had been working with the Rootstown Local Schools in good faith, believing that there was enough traction to address the real experiences of racism and other forms of bullying in the schools,” Portage County NAACP President Geraldine Hayes-Nelson said in a statement to The Portager. “But now we wonder if the time and resources of the NAACP were just being used to provide ‘cover’ where there was no real commitment to change.”
The NAACP’s statement threw into uncertainty a community conversation process, initiated by the school board after the district mishandled incidents of racism on the high school football team. Leadership from the local NAACP chapter agreed to help the board conduct a series of meetings with Rootstown residents to talk about racism, bullying and diversity.
“The school board had an opportunity in this moment to diversify their membership, but chose not to,” Hayes-Nelson said. “Having a second or third female member would have enriched and expanded the board’s ability to deal with diversity issues.”
“One female applicant had extensive experience with youth mental health and also project management. Two other female applicants were school teachers in other districts. Instead, the school board chose men whose work experience was with adults, and their experiences within the schools was mainly through athletics. One of the narratives after the resignation of Coach Spiker was the existence of an ‘old boys network’ in Rootstown that protected certain community members and students. The choices of the school board did not disrupt that narrative.”
Despite repeatedly emphasizing her and the board’s willingness to listen to and learn from the NAACP and Black community members, Board President Amanda Waesch discredited the NAACP’s statement.
“The statement by the NAACP is a disservice to the other applicants as it deflects from their willingness to voluntarily step up to the plate and serve our community,” she said in a statement to The Portager. “Rootstown is honored to have them as citizens and their commitment to the community should be celebrated – not used to further a political agenda or social platform. We committed to partnering with the NAACP to identify opportunities for improvement within our community. A true partner does not seek to unfairly scrutinize a situation for exploitation and furtherance of an agenda.”
The board was thrust into a “no-win situation” after former board members Scott Kreiger and Steven Vasbinder resigned late last month, Wasch said. Anticipating scrutiny, she said the board “intentionally and painstakingly followed a uniform and impartial” appointment process.
It interviewed nine candidates of the 12 who expressed written interest. One didn’t fill out an application form, and one woman with two decades in special education wrote down the wrong time for her interview and missed it. Kevin Kaut, a neuroscientist at the University of Akron, rescinded his application. Some board members, he had heard, would not seriously consider his candidacy because he pointedly criticized the board in the wake of the mishandled racist incidents.
Jennifer Curall interviewed but didn’t make the cut despite her master’s degree in special education and more than 15 years as an intervention specialist at Beachwood’s Bryden Elementary School. Curall’s family of seven moved to Rootstown 10 years ago, and she’s since gotten involved with the soccer club and parent teacher association.
Nicholas Schneckenburger, a lawyer and secretary of Rootstown’s Chamber of Commerce, didn’t make it.
Heather Baker applied and interviewed but ultimately the board did not select her, either. She earned her Master of Education degree in marriage and family therapy in 2011, and now works extensively in youth psychological healthcare. She’s a licensed counselor at an agency that provides psychological services to schools and families, a director at a youth behavioral health hospital and a healthcare provider at Massillon’s Department of Youth Services.
Baker’s family moved to Rootstown about three years ago. She said her son’s experience in town has been great, and she’s involved herself in the school’s parent teacher association and Cub Scouts. She applied for a board position because she’d like to see the community come together for the sake of its children, she said.
“It really was my belief that we’ve got to address some of these issues that are clearly happening in our school: the division, the inequalities,” she said. “Not saying that there’s an easy solution to it. … I believe in the value of strong mental health services, and having a strong advocate for getting mental health services, social, emotional learning curriculum into the school system because that’s where we’re gonna reach the majority of our kids in our community. And that’s where we’re gonna have the most impact.”
Baker said hearing about students struggling to fit in, being bullied and transferring out of Rootstown Local Schools disappoints her. She was surprised, she said, that the school board did not ask her about bullying or racism during her interview.
But Waesch said the board juggles other responsibilities besides tackling racism and bullying. It needs to develop a hybrid online and in-person class schedule, negotiate with teachers, address the upcoming levy and distribute CARES Act funding. She said the board sought someone who could both communicate well and “roll up their sleeves and get the job done.”
“I’m not looking for someone that’s going to be an echo chamber,” Waesch said. “Because you have to have a healthy discussion. You have to have that tension, that conflict, to get to the right decision. So we may disagree or come at it with different opinions, but that’s what you need to have to get to the right decision.”
On Oct. 19, the board swore in Mullaly and Charles Auto Family General Manager Paul McEwuen. Both cited their devotion to the community as primary reasons for seeking out board positions. McEwuen said spending nearly his entire life building relationships in Rootstown puts him in a position to help ensure community members have a voice in board decisions. Mullaly said he’d like to see the district’s levies passed and its outdated buildings renovated.
“In my position as a fire chief, I deal with a lot of issues on a day-to-day basis,” Mullaly said. “And I think one of the things I enjoy is … challenges of trying to help fix things. So you know, of course there’s issues, but you know, I enjoy doing those kind of things to hopefully move it in the positive direction again.”
When asked about racism and bullying in the school district, Mullaly emphasized the importance of listening to the community. “Soaking that in is a good thing,” he said.
Waesch said she was disappointed that a woman didn’t make it into her top two. She selected McEwuen in part because he’s received leadership training that’s strengthened his communication skills, an area she admitted the board has been lacking in, she said. And Mullaly’s experience in township administration and accounting, particularly with the CARES Act, lends the board knowledge it needs right now.
“We’re not going to make everybody happy,” Waesch said. “But I’m okay with that. I’m okay with that because I know that I’m making decisions that not everybody will agree with, but that I think are in the best interest of the district and the students and the teachers and the community.”
The Portage County NAACP's partnership with the Rootstown Board of Education seemed to dissolve last week.
— Michael Indriolo (@ikeyindr) November 1, 2020
See why: https://t.co/kphIWvOhGM
