Dear Mr. Chaddock and the Governing Board of the Stark County Educational Services Center:

A group of sincerely concerned citizens are standing up to demand the resignation/termination of the Stark County Educational Services Center attorney, Mary Jo Shannon Slick. For more than two decades, she has created a culture of division between teachers and administrators; the very people who should be working hand in hand to educate our children effectively and lovingly. Her posturing has also resulted in fractures in numerous communities. Mary Jo wields legalese to retaliate and intimidate local boards and superintendents and adds fuel, to promote her personal agenda, to already conflicting situations that end up costing communities insurmountable amounts of money.

Recently, in Louisville, 10 teachers have been used as pawns to force the Louisville Education Association into submission regarding their contract with their Board of Education; a contentious issue going on since summer. Rather than spending their time and energy educating our future generations, three of these amazing teachers are now focused on fighting for their reputation, career, and their own future. The tactics she has used can be seen as bordering on blackmail.

In a previous case, McIntosh v. Slick, 2007-Ohio-3672, it is affirmed that Ms. Slick can be quoted as saying, "It is a shame that Mr. McIntosh had all these due process rights.” How can the Stark County community have faith in an Attorney that has clear disregard for the law and the rights of those employees in the districts she represents? The document goes on to say, “Mr. McIntosh proved by clear and convincing evidence, that Ms. Slick prepared/published one or more of the passages with anger, hatred, ill-will, a spirit of revenge, or in reckless disregard of the consequences of the legal rights of Mr. McIntosh.” This statement, while specifically referring to the case McIntosh v. Slick, could be applied to many of the cases in which Ms. Slick has been involved. Ms. Slick continues to use underhanded, emotion driven tactics with clear and concise disregard to any consequences or legal rights of those involved. The Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct stipulates that "it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to... engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and/or "engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer's fitness to practice law." (Rule 8.4).

​It seems that for many years, Ms. Slick has been left to wield her influence in case after case virtually unchecked. This would NEVER happen in the private sector without disciplinary action up to and including disbarment. This is such a disservice to the community and is certainly an improper spending of our tax dollars. 

Ms. Slick cannot be allowed to continue to further hurt the good educators, their families, and our communities by denying future students access to quality, experienced educators! The actions of Ms. Slick could also damage the career of teaching itself as some youth may choose to not enter the field of education in Stark County because of the fear Ms. Slick has created here. We can no longer sit by and allow the actions of one person to have so much influence over education in Stark County, therefore we are demanding Ms. Slick's resignation/termination immediately before she is allowed to do further damage to the Education environment here is Stark County.

Sincerely,

Concerned Taxpayers of Stark County School Districts