YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown school board Tuesday voted 6-1 to give the district’s final 2022-25 Academic Improvement Plan to the state, a move that would have the city district headed back toward local control.

With its acceptance, the district will have three years to reach a series of benchmarks of having students achieve academic understanding in math, science and literacy. If it achieves the majority of the benchmarks, the district will no longer be required to work under the Academic Distress Commission.

If the state approves the plan, the CEO position will be eliminated June 30, 2022. The school board then will be able to hire a superintendent to do the day-to-day operations of the district under its direction.

Currently, the CEO has the ultimate authority of leading the district and does not have to follow the directions of the school board.

CEO Justin Jennings said the plan has not changed the academic policies established by his administration and mandated by the state.

“This plan is to ensure they don’t have another CEO, unless they fail to make the targets,” he said.

Board member Jackie Adair voted against the final plan, citing concerns about what she believes are insufficient growth percentages of students in various math categories.

Adair said the district has had difficulty in the hiring and keeping math teachers.

“I would submit to you that the low percentages of students meeting basic math requirements may have had something to do with the fact that we have been unable to keep certified, qualified math teachers,” she said. “Was that a reason why our math scores have been so abysmal?”

Kim Miller-Smith of the Ohio School Boards Association said the targets in the plan were developed with the current school year being the base level. Improvements will be judged by the knowledge of students as a starting point, she said.

Board President Ronald Shadd said the district not being able to find and keep math teachers has been a long-standing struggle.

“We are aggressively trying to change that,” Shadd said. “With every pitfall we may have, we have to come up with ways to make change. This is why the plan is so important. We have much work to do over the next three years to make sure we surpass any benchmark or target that may be in the plan.”

“This is a synopsis of where we are now,” he said. “We can use the current year as a baseline year. We can make adjustments to what our outcomes can be. We must ensure we are fully staffed and we must ensure we have the resources our teachers and students need.”

Shadd said the approval of the improvement plan is the district’s only way out of academic distress.

“This is a pathway to a new beginning for our district,” he said.

rsmith@tribtoday.com