YOUNGSTOWN — A longtime critic of the Youngstown City Schools is asking the district and those it serves to demand excellence and seek role model institutions, so it can move from an “F” on the state report card to a “C” or better over the next two years.

Jimma McWilson, founder of the African Education Party, seeks to improve education in the city by demanding accountability of everyone involved in the teaching of children. McWilson emphasized during a Zoom meeting Tuesday that the district has earned failing grades throughout most of the last 22 years because no one had set a goal for excellence and mapped out ways to achieve it.

“Our kids want to achieve, but the system is broken,” McWilson said. “Our children and our schools must see role models of success to know what it looks like.”

McWilson is a former vice president with the Youngstown NAACP. He is financing this project on his own.

He said there are 100 percent poverty districts, such as Youngstown, that achieve overall higher grades on state report cards.

Steubenville school district, which is 25 percent black, in 2019 earned a “B” and Warrensville Heights schools, 95 percent black, received a “C” on the state report card.

“What is the difference?” he questioned. “Is it race? Is it expectations from those who lead?”

McWilson said these school districts should be models for Youngstown schools.

“It does not take a five-year plan or a seven-year plan to turn this around,” McWilson said. “Warrensville Heights went from an ‘F’ to a ‘C’ in two years.”

After decades of local control, Youngstown schools have a CEO in place answering to an academic distress commission, rather than the elected school board, in a move established by state legislation to improve academic performance.

McWilson also emphasized it is not about how much is spent on students.

“In 2019, per student spending in Youngstown City Schools was $12,634,” McWilson said. “In Warrensville, per student spending was $12,653 and in Steubenville, per student spending was $7,048.”

McWilson questions how Youngstown, with its history of failure on the state report card, can be earning $5,500 more per student compared to Steubenville.

“You can’t have 10 to 20 people in the district earning $100,000 or more each and still receive the grade it has,” McWilson said. “There has to be a new mindset towards excellence. It is the adults that have failed, not the children.”

McWilson said adults must become more involved in the education of Youngstown school students, including encouraging reading, encouraging the study of history and doing science and math.

“I believe children can learn at high levels when they are challenged and presented with materials they want to learn,” McWilson said. “Black children are having problems because they are generally five years below grade level of comparable white students. It is those in position of power that placed Youngstown student in a position that they cannot read at grade level.”

McWilson emphasized that reading should be done in schools, in homes, at churches and anywhere students are located — so it is the entire community’s responsibility. Similar emphasis should be made in teaching science and mathematics.

“How can the school district come out to ask for a renewal of a levy?” he said. “What is it going to do with that money if it is approved?”

rsmith@tribtoday.com