Lorain schools to eliminate some administrative positions (UPDATED)

LORAIN — The administration of Lorain Schools will be cut at the end of the school year. Interim CEO Greg Ring announced Tuesday 45 positions will be eliminated July 31. About 25 more traditional positions will be established in their stead, including assistant principals and curriculum support staff. All of the district-level chief and building dean positions will be eliminated, as well as those holding director titles at the high school and district-level. "It's not about job performance, it's really about reorganization," Ring said. The move is expected to save the district about $2.5 million, in the face of millions of dollars in projected deficit spending. Ring confirmed staff were notified of the change Monday. Moving toward a traditional model will include multiple assistant principals at the high school, but the specific structure is still in the works, Ring said. He also said via email changes could be made to building principals, but he declined to elaborate. The "new" positions will be on an updated pay grade. Ring said many of the non-union positions have not seen pay increases in years, and he plans to look at incremental increases to bring them in line with what collective bargaining units received. He expects it will be a few weeks before assistant principal jobs will be posted. His administration is reviewing job descriptions and trying to combine the dean of academic outcomes and dean of scholar and family engagement back into one position. Employees whose positions have been eliminated and have proper licensing will be welcome to apply to the new positions. The vast majority of those eliminated have contracts that end July 31, which the district confirmed was not changed under former CEO David Hardy Jr. — except for the chiefs. The chief contract end-dates vary between Dec. 31, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021. The chief positions also are the only ones listed who have severance pay as part of their contract, for 120 days after their contract is terminated, with additional payouts available for unused vacation time and continued insurance coverage. Hardy amended the chief contracts in May 2019, making it retroactively effective to Jan. 1, 2019. For Chief Equity and Achievement Officer Kenan Bishop, his severance pay — without vacation pay — would be about $56,500. Chief of Operations Jeff Hawks' would be about $59,250. Chief of Schools LaKimbre Brown's would be about $78,100. Chief of Staff Elena Rivera's would be about $40,750. Via email, Ring said it was yet to be determined if the chief's severance clauses would be honored. A precedent was set when Chief Family Officer Arliss Prass and Chief People Officer Jacqueline Younker's contracts expired after the change in CEO. The two were notified of their termination at the end of January and Ring refused to pay severance. Both have since filed lawsuits — Prass with the Ohio Supreme Court and Younker in federal court. Ring said via email he was not expecting any legal action against the district as a result of the changes. Under Hardy, the district's administrator count ballooned to 90, including the CEO, according to the most recent district profile from the Ohio Department of Education. Ring's reductions could take that number down to around 70 — which is where it was about 10 years ago. House Bill 70, the 2015 law that outlines the state takeover of Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland schools, gives Ring the ability to suspend, amend or terminate contracts unilaterally. Contact Carissa Woytach at 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.