Clough, Costanza backing four-person slate
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Oct. 31, 2007

Who’s backing who on the race to fill four school board seats is making as much news as who’s running.

Mayor Dennis Clough and former Superintendent Jim Costanza have endorsed a four-person slate of Joe Marinucci, Kelly Smith, Tim Sullivan and Carol Winter. Three current board members, two of whom are running in the election, have raised objections to this.

Current board President Renee D’Ettorre Wargo, who is not seeking re-eleciton, said Clough and Costanza want member Joe O’Malley to lose his seat Tuesday.

“That’s all they care about,” D’Ettorre Wargo said. “And the city wants to have command of the school board.”

Clough, who defeated O’Malley in a contentious mayoral race two years ago, said he has plenty of things to do beside run a school board. But he doesn’t hide his displeasure with the current board.

“I think the school board needs a new direction and a new focus,” Clough told West Life. “All I’m looking for are good people who care about the school system and are interested in cooperating with the city on mutual issues.”

 The city has been unable to reach a deal with the school board on 42 acres of district-owned land the city has long sought for athletic fields.

Clough said the four candidates he has endorsed have made no promises to him about delivering a deal on the property.

“I never even asked,” Clough said regarding their position on the property.

The city has withdrawn its offer on the land, the mayor added.

“The property issue is a dead issue with me,” Clough said. Instead, the city should consider adding lights to fields at the rec center and Clague Park to increase the time fields are available for use, he said.

When D’Ettorre Wargo criticized Clough for backing the slate in a letter to West Life, the mayor produced campaign literature D’Ettorre Wargo used four years ago with the mayor’s endorsement.

“At that time, (Clough) was supporting candidates in the district, not trying to control the board,” D’Ettorre Wargo said in response to Clough’s criticism. “My letter speaks for itself.”

D’Ettorre Wargo has endorsed Tom Mays, the board’s current vice president.

“He’s very sound in his judgment,” she said of Mays. “He has the best interests of students in mind.”

Mays, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in August 2005, said he’s running on continuing the excellence and monitoring expenses in the district.

Mays said he wants the district to look at alternative revenue sources, such as stadium advertising and sponsorships, to help reduce the burden on homeowners.

The mayor and former superintendent should not have gotten involved in the race, Mays said.

“I don’t think politicians should be involved with educating kids,” Mays told West Life.

While Mays concedes that some people may vote based on the Bradley Road impasse, most people understand the board has been trying to act in the best interests of the students, he said.

O’Malley said he’s running on what the district has accomplished over the past four years. The district has kept spending at low levels, increased security at all buildings and delivered excellent results in the classrooms, he said.

“With a new superintendent and new administrators, I think continuity is key,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley said it’s irresponsible of Clough and Costanza to back a slate of candidates that lack experience.

“If the whole district needs to start over, that’s as much an indictment of (Costanza’s) tenure as it is of mine,” O’Malley said of the former superintendent’s backing of the Marinucci, Smith, Sullivan and Winter slate.

While O’Malley said his hard-fought campaign against Clough for mayor two years ago is over, he sees politics entering the school board race.

“I think what Clough cares about most is that he wants a school board he can control,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley said he is the experienced candidate.

“It’s irresponsible to get rid of board members who have performed well because of politics,” he said.

Marinucci, the president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance appointed to the board in July, faces no opposition in his bid to fill an unexpired term.

But the three other candidates on the slate face opposition from five others, including O’Malley and Mays, in their race for three seats on the board of education.

Smith, who previously worked as a licensed social worker and is now vice president of a video production company, has been involved in the Westlake PTA and music boosters as the mother of three Westlake students.

“Working on the successful Westlake schools 2006 levy campaign raised my awareness of the importance of being a responsible citizen,” Smith said. “I realize that each of us has a responsibility to be community-minded and to work to create the very best future for our children and the community that we live.”

The district needs to address facility issues and provide up-to-date technology for students to prepare them  to compete in a global economy, she said.

Smith said it was her slate that approached Clough and City Council members to get their endorsements.

“They did not solicit us,” Smith said.

Sullivan is an attorney who began his law career during his four years of service in the Navy.

Winter, who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in education, taught and served as an assistant principal at public schools in Michigan. She has been involved in the Westlake levy campaigns in 2005-06 and the 2001 bond campaign to build the performing arts center.

Likewise, Winter said the slate sought out the endorsements of the mayor and council members.

“The city did not seek us out,” she said.

“What brought us together was we really wanted to bring the focus back to the kids,” she said.

The focus in the district has become too political, especially over the Bradley Road property, she said.

The slate has made no promises to city leaders on how the Bradley Road property will be addressed, she added.

The district should take a fresh look at whether selling the 42 acres is the right thing to do, she said. If a sale is not the answer, a lease could be pursued with the city, she said, a solution recently advocated by O’Malley and Mays.

Mary Levtzow, a writer and columnist for The Westlake Times, is running with the endorsements of Ward 3 Councilman Dennis Sullivan and his predecessor, Bill Sexton. Levtzow is not writing about the race in her newspaper because she is a candidate, she said.

Levtzow, a private tutor for 23 years with two decades of experience as a classroom instructor, is promising to vote independently and work to televise school board meetings and seek grants and outside funding for the district.

“I really will work hard to represent the city and the schools well,” said Levtzow, who unsuccessfully ran for the Ward 4 council seat in 2005.

Gabrielle Anne Finnan, an attorney/consultant, has a profoundly deaf son learning to use cochlear implants as a kindergarten student at Hilliard Elementary. She said she’s running because she wants to be an advocate for all students in addition to those with special needs.

“As a school district, I think Westlake is doing really well,” she said referring to Westlake’s high graduation rate.

Finnan said she will be an independent voice on the board making financially responsible decisions that will have a positive impact on students.

Bill Moroney, a former teacher who is now employed as a psychologist in the Shaker Heights district, has two children attending Westlake High School.

The 30-year education veteran said he wants to move into the policy-making level in the field.

Moroney said that the Bradley Road property issue has been a distraction for the district. The issue needs to be brought to a resolution, he said.

“We need to get back to talking education policy,” he said.