Rep. Miller presses Lorain City Schools CEO Hardy for transparency

State Rep. Joe Miller (D-Amherst) this week called on Lorain City Schools to release information regarding their finances and administrative decisions in response to the district’s failure to fulfill previous records requests made by members of the public.

“The people of Lorain deserve to know how their money is being spent,” said Rep. Miller. “We have heard numerous troubling reports about financial decisions under district CEO David Hardy, including shifting funds away from classrooms and towards new administrative “chief” positions. If Hardy is as proud of his record as he claims to be, there should be no issue with sharing those details publicly.”

Lorain City Schools was placed under state control in 2015, when the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill (HB) 70. Hardy was appointed in 2017.

Since taking office in January, Rep. Miller introduced HB 154 to restore local control to Lorain and two other state-controlled districts. The bill was approved by the Ohio House and is awaiting further consideration in the Ohio Senate.

Read the letter below:

August 27, 2019
David Hardy, CEO
Lorain City Schools
2601 Pole Avenue
Lorain, OH 44052

Dear Mr. Hardy,

I am writing to request public records kept by your administration at Lorain City Schools. My
understanding is that previous requests for many of these records by members of the community have up
to now gone unfulfilled. Each of the below requests is for documents produced after you were named
district CEO on July 24, 2017. The records include:

¿¿¿ Listing of administrators who have been hired and fired
¿¿¿ Contracts, including salaries, entered into with administrators
¿¿¿ Contracts entered into with vendors
¿¿¿ Documentation of legal fees paid by the district
¿¿¿ Documentation of reimbursement of expenses for administrators
¿¿¿ Evaluations for administrators, including David Hardy

Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 149.43, I look forward to these requests being fulfilled in a timely manner.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Joe Miller

State Representative, Ohio House District 56

CC:
Lorain Academic Distress Commission Chairman Randall Sampson
Lorain City School Board President Mark Ballard
Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria
Governor Mike Dewine
Attorney General Dave Yost