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Husted ousts school board president from office meeting

He says Jeffrey Mims Jr. wasn’t invited to private meeting with the superintendent.

Jon Husted

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Submitted photo Jeffrey Mims

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 11:49 AM Friday, June 19, 2009

DAYTON — Dayton school board President Jeffrey Mims Jr. says he’s still smarting after state Sen. Jon Husted tossed him from a meeting Tuesday, June 16, in Husted’s Columbus office.

“I left because I didn’t want to jeopardize what we’re trying to accomplish for the district,” Mims said Thursday, June 18. “But I’m not going to lie and say it was not very painful, very embarrassing to me.”

Husted, R-Kettering, said Thursday that the meeting was designed as a “meet and greet” with Dayton Superintendent Kurt Stanic, a chance for the two to get to know each other and discuss education issues. He didn’t want to hear the agenda of people not invited to the meeting, he said.

“I don’t know who does this kind of stuff, where they just show up and try to barge in and be part of a meeting they weren’t even involved in,” Husted said. “It was just bizarre.”

Mims, a veteran of Statehouse battles as a lobbyist for teacher unions and the school district, said he went to the meeting to talk about a land swap deal between the state and the district. Told he wasn’t invited, Mims said he objected and left with a highway patrol trooper escort. Husted said there was no trooper, but a Senate Sergeant-at-Arms staffer was there.

“I’ve been in more comfortable meetings,” Stanic said. “I thought Mr. Mims handled himself very well.”

The proposed land swap with the Ohio Department of Mental Health would allow the district to build a $21 million new Belmont High School on the grounds of the former Twin Valley mental health hospital on Wayne Avenue.

An amendment permitting the swap was part of the original state budget bill, but Senate Republicans removed it last month.

Mims suspects Husted, a strong charter school proponent, was instrumental in pulling the amendment from the budget bill, a charge Husted denies.

Stanic said he wanted to meet Husted, but also seek his help in securing the land swap.

The plan calls for the state to give the district 47 acres on the Twin Valley site for the current Belmont property next door. Plus, the district would knock down some buildings and clean up both properties.

Husted and Stanic both said they had a good discussion. As for the Belmont issue, Husted said, “I told them I’d work on it.”

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