Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb on Tuesday announced his five picks for Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education members, reappointing three members and announcing a new chair and vice chair.
In Cleveland, the mayor has controlled the nine-member board of education since the late 90s. The mayor appoints members to the board rather than them being elected.
Sara Elaqad, executive director of the nonprofit Minds Matter Cleveland, was reappointed to the board and was named the new chair, replacing former chair Anne Bingham, who remains a board member. Leah D. Hudnall, assistant professor of practice at Cleveland State University's College of Urban Affairs, was also reappointed to the board and was named the new vice chair, replacing former vice chair Robert M. Heard, who also remains on the board.
Bibb also reappointed board member Denise Link, vice president of network planning for multiple states for PNC Bank.
The new appointees are Robert Briggs and Diana Welch Howell, according to a press release from the mayor's office. Briggs is partner and chairman emeritus at the law firm Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLC; he also cofounded the local nonprofit Fund For Our Economic Future in 2004, served as president of the educational nonprofit the GAR Foundation from 1996 to 2011 and chaired the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation from 2010 to 2014. Welch Howell is the head of hospitals expansion for KeyBank’s Laurel Road brand, managing relationships with large hospital systems; she's also worked for Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati and JPMorgan Chase Bank in Chicago.
The new and newly reappointed board members will be tasked with setting goals for incoming CEO Warren Morgan.
“CMSD has made historic progress over the last decade-plus in large part due to CEO Eric Gordon and all board members, both current and past,” Bibb said in the press release. “As we emerge from the pandemic, we will seek to address the new challenges and capitalize on the opportunities before us. The Board must continue its work to engage deeply with parents and community, ground policy decisions in equity and the aspirations of our kids and families, and diligently seek to expand opportunities for every CMSD student. I'm confident that this Board's unique experience, skillset and capabilities will benefit our students, the leadership of our new CEO Dr. Warren Morgan, and our community.”
Some more details about each board member are below:
- Elaqad works at the local chapter of the national Minds Matter nonprofit, which tries to connect low-income high school students with resources to help them succeed in college. Prior to her work there, she served as academy manager of curriculum and outcomes for Boys Hope Girls Hope of Northeast Ohio, and has been a mentor at the Cleveland immigrant advocacy nonprofit Global Cleveland's Global Rising Program.
- Hudnall is a third-generation CMSD alumna and mother of two, one of whom is a rising CMSD first-grader. She was Mayor Bibb's first appointment to the board last year. She's held various nonprofit, public and private sector leadership roles, including at the KeyBank Foundation, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office and the George Gund Foundation. She also serves on the board for Cleveland VOTES and Birthing Beautiful Communities.
- Welch Howell, a downtown Cleveland resident, has served as a mentor for Cleveland nonprofit College Now Greater Cleveland and the Girl Scouts of the USA, and has volunteered on the Young Professionals Board for the nonprofit United Way of Metro Chicago.
- Briggs served in the United States Air Force as a staff judge advocate and currently resides in Bratenahl; one board member is required by law to reside in part of the school district that is outside the city limits. He is also admitted to the Ohio Bar, New York Bar, U.S. District Court – Northern District of Ohio, and the U.S. Tax Court, the release added.
- Link was the CMSD Board of Education chair when outgoing CEO Gordon first took that position. She's been a mentor for College Now Greater Cleveland and the True2U CMSD mentoring program, and was a founding member of the Cleveland nonprofit Cleveland Transformation Alliance, which oversees the relationship between district and charter schools in the city.
Board members Louise Dempsey and Kathleen Valdez will conclude their terms at the end of next week, with Bibb thanking them for their work in the news release.
Elaqad and Hudnall in separate interviews said their main goal in the near future will be supporting new CEO Warren Morgan. Elaqad said she'd like to see the board continue to improve its engagement with families.
"I think one thing I'm excited about is just doing our part to live up to the school board being the vital link between our community and the schools," she said. "We've got a tremendous responsibility to families."
Hudnall said another goal for the board will be to bolster enrollment at CMSD schools, to encourage families to choose the school district over other private and public options. Academics are another key, with CMSD and districts across the country seeing significant dips in student performance after pandemic-related school closures.
"I think our academic goals are always front of mind and center for all the right reasons, but then also paired with that is district culture and then also school culture individually by school," she said. "So you want to make sure that we're able to keep those sharp goals in mind but also make sure that we're still open and flexible to hear from our families, maybe in a way that we hadn't done a such a good job at (previously)."
Elaqad similarly said the board and district need to ensure that all students are being served well.
"That means that every student is really able to achieve the most of the opportunities that are out there and that students are well-supported throughout," she said. "... we have disabled students. We live in a city with a high poverty rate, and that doesn't mean that we let those things lie and just kind of do our best. It means that we ensure that, like I said, we're doing right by every single student in the district."
Hudnall added she thinks her mother - who also graduated from CMSD - would be "tickled" to see her in her current position.
"I think it says a lot to our children to see that, where you are is perfect for who you are, and it will equip you on your journey as well as anything else," she said of her education at CMSD.
