Youngstown schools chief: ‘Our kids want greatness’
Forum highlights successes, challenges for district
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YOUNGSTOWN – As the Youngstown City School District forges ahead to build on its successes, it’s vital that certain negative perceptions change, that a more cohesive partnership between the Youngstown Board of Education and the community is formed, and that students and parents have a greater understanding of the board’s key functions, several school officials contend.
“Our kids want greatness,” schools Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said during a community meeting the board hosted Tuesday evening at Choffin Career & Technical Center.
Serving as moderator was Mark Bobo, the Ohio School Boards Association’s director of communications and member relations.
Batchelor expressed gratitude that the district earned a three-star rating on the state report card that was released Sept. 15, but said it’s vitally important that the district continues to build on the progress and growth it has made. That includes emphasizing strategic resource allocation efforts to ensure that funds go toward students and creating a stronger learning culture, working to correct poor behavior via sending such students to an alternative school to be educated and receive behavioral interventions before returning to their regular school. Also brought up were building strong partnerships with Youngstown State University and the business community, along with giving students who graduate with a grade-point average of 2.75 or higher an opportunity to attend YSU for free, Batchelor said.
The latter is courtesy of the Y-STAR scholarship program, which is funding the Youngstown Foundation provides to city schools’ graduates to attend YSU.
Additional eligibility requirements for students are being admitted to a YSU associate or bachelor’s degree program, enrolling at the university within one year of high school graduation, submitting a completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid form annually, completing the YSU Foundation’s scholarship application, enrolling in a minimum of six credit hours per semester and attending a mandatory Y-STAR comprehensive onboarding session before the start of fall semester classes, according to the Y-STAR program’s website.
Also at the session, Batchelor noted that the One Vision, One Youngstown concept was predicated in part on the realization that the district and community it serves need to establish a closer relationship with each other. It also was the result of many people who “jumped on the bandwagon” to support merging Chaney and East high schools into a single Youngstown High School to create a new vision “for how we educate our kids,” the superintendent added.
A problem the district continues to grapple with is that less than 50% of students who live in Youngstown attend the city schools, Batchelor noted.
Treasurer Michael A. Rock said that part of the district’s growth lies in a strong commitment toward being very strategic with its financial resources.
BOARD DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS
Also at the meet-and-greet session, Bobo outlined several tenets regarding the power of integration he said are important for board of education members to adhere. They include using leadership to set direction, providing vision and strategic focus; building relationships and managing dynamics to shape healthy collaboration; making decisions based on ethics to ensure public trust and integrity; and working to create further trust as a foundation for meaningful change.
“Leadership, emotional intelligence and ethics aren’t separate competencies -- they’re interconnected strengths that amplify each other. When working in harmony, they create something greater than the sum of their parts,” Bobo said in his presentation.
He also sought board members’ responses to hypothetical scenarios such as defining emotional intelligence, to which board President Juanita Walker said it means being empathetic when dealing with others, including those with whom one disagrees.
She added that the board strives for consistency, including hosting annual retreats as well as regular work sessions and being present in the community.
“We’re creating our story and making sure it’s known,” Walker said.
In response to another question, board member Tiffany Patterson said one of the most important things the community needs to understand is that the board functions as a collective body that tries to operate with a single mind, an idea that aligns with the One Vision, One Youngstown idea.
Another board member, the Rev. Kenneth M. Donaldson, who pastors Rising Star Baptist Church in Youngstown, noted that a top board priority is to disseminate correct information, even though some people will hold steadfast to that which they wish to believe.
“You’re not going to please everybody, but do what you are called to do,” he said.
Board member Joseph Meranto, in response to another question, said he wishes a greater number of elected officials would show more support for the district. He and Donaldson also articulated their desire to see old, lingering negative perceptions disappear. Meranto added that his grandson is among the many teachers who desire to work in the district.
“We’re not who we used to be,” Donaldson said.
“We’re moving in the right direction, no doubt about it,” Meranto added.