State superintendent calls tune for Youngstown school district

If there was any question as to who ultimately is running the Youngstown City School District, consider two major decisions made in the past couple of weeks. First, three original members of the state-mandated academic distress commission were replaced with individuals whose names have not been connected with the urban school system. Second, an academic improvement plan adopted by the elected school board and the distress commission was rejected as inadequate. It is noteworthy that the plan had been developed with an Ohio Department of Education consultant.

The decisions were made by Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction, who is on a mission to re-create the district so it’s no longer in the academic cellar. While it has emerged from state academic emergency, Heffner isn’t impressed with the improvement to academic watch because it was achieved through higher student attendance numbers, rather than success in the state proficiency tests.

During a meeting last week with distress commission and school board members, the state superintendent was blunt in what he wants to accomplish: a transformation of city schools. The transformation could take many forms, such as implementing different school days, or creating magnet schools, community schools or innovation schools.

At the heart of Heffner’s vision is choice — by parents and students.

“Youngstown could be a mosaic district if it wants to be,” he said.

Move forward faster

The academic improvement plan that was submitted by the commission — this was done prior to the three new appointees coming on board — to the department of education obviously does not get the district to where the superintendent wants it to be within the time frame he envisions. He wants Youngstown to earn a continuous improvement designation from the state by next year.

It’s a tall order, given the challenges that still confront the district and the fact that schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn, who has been on the job since the beginning of the year, has made major changes in the configuration of the schools that will take time to implement.

Although state Superintendent Heffner insists that all stakeholders, including Hathorn and the school board, are crucial to the district’s future, the fact remains that his word is law — as evidenced by his appointment of the new commission members and his rejection of the academic recovery plan. The new members are: Richard Ross, a retired superintendent from Reynoldsburg schools, near Columbus, who replaced chairwoman Debra Mettee, superintendent of Springfield schools, who had resigned her position on the panel; Adrienne O’Neill, president of Stark Education Partners, and Michael Garvey of M7 Technologies of Youngstown. They replaced James Hall, retired South Range superintendent, and Sherri Lovelace-Cameron, a Youngstown State University chemistry professor. The other two members of the commission appointed by the school board are Susan Moorer, P12 coordinator of assessment and outreach at YSU, who replaced Kathie Garcia, a retired teacher, and Betty Greene, an instructor in teacher education at YSU.

The state’s vision

In announcing the new commissioners, Heff–ner said, “It is essential that the Youngstown school board, the district leadership team and the commission work in partnership to implement deep changes that will give the children of Youngstown the education they need for the future. The urgency to really improve and not tinker around the edges is critical to Youngstown’s success as Ohio transitions from a minimum competency system to one that is based on new, rigorous academic standards. We must move beyond what exists so our students can get and keep good jobs when they graduate.”

A question that comes to mind and must be answered by the superintendent is this: Given that all the major decisions are being made in Columbus, how much financial and personnel support will the district receive to accomplish what he has outlined as his vision for Youngstown?