YOUNGSTOWN — What are some ways the Youngstown City Schools can be reconfigured so that the best and most practical uses of space and purpose are realized?

The first step to address that challenge is deciding on a workable and agreeable definition of “capacity,” a school official says.

“We were charged by the board (of education) to review the philosophy of the right configurations of our buildings,” Robert Kearns, the district’s executive director of operations, said after a special ad hoc meeting Monday afternoon at Chaney High School.

During the one-hour session, the Committee for Building Configuration and Size discussed the viability and practicality of several ideas for getting the district’s 14 buildings, including Choffin Career and Technical Center, in better alignment with student and staffing size and use.

The district has 4,178 students, board of education member Tina Cvetkovich noted.

Kearns explained that regarding a building’s square footage, “capacity” has no solid or raw definition. It can mean one thing as described by the state fire marshal’s office or a structure’s architecture firm. In a practical and everyday sense, however, it can be defined differently by educators who use the space regularly, Kearns noted.

Along those lines, a classroom’s use can be malleable, an example being the difference between a room used for science or English. Capacity for science would be greater than for an English course because the former also would likely require additional lab space, Kearns continued.

Nevertheless, committee members spent the meeting exploring possible ideas for solving certain space challenges in the buildings.

Cvetkovich expressed the idea of combining Kirk and Volney Rogers elementary school students, then having them go to Chaney Middle School. Such a move could allow Kirkmere Elementary to be converted to a preschool for early learning, she said.

Currently, preschoolers are “scattered all over (the district),” Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor added.

Board member Joseph Meranto said that because Choffin Career and Technical Center has too few students, those from schools outside the district could be brought there to help fill that void. Such students could attend for half school days, Meranto said, noting that the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center in Canfield has students who go for half and full days.

Another possibility is forming a partnership with Eastern Gateway Community College to allow certain juniors and seniors to achieve college credit if they’re unable to attend Youngstown Rayen Early College, Kearns said.

Also brought up was the idea of establishing a central district office, though no agreed-upon location was decided.

Batchelor said that any possible major moves or reshuffling efforts would require community conversations as well as having all seven board members in agreement.

Kearns also recommended that the entire board enter into discussions about these and other possible ideas at a fall retreat later this year.

Committee members stressed that everything they discussed Monday is hypothetical, and nothing is set in stone.

“There’s a lot to look at, but at least we’re talking,” Meranto said.