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YOUNGSTOWN -- Some students and teachers in the city school district will be in different buildings next school year.
The Board of Education for the Youngstown City School District, by a 5-1 vote, approved a plan at Tuesday's regular board meeting that will shuffle students, teachers, and administrative offices.
The changes will affect students on the city's West and South sides.
A statement from YCSD spokesperson Stacy Quinones said some students will be moved from Kirkmere Elementary to Volney Rogers Elementary, and those schools will be merged into the building that now houses Chaney Middle School.
Chaney Middle School students will be relocated to Volney because it originally was constructed to be a middle school.
"Youngstown City Schools and the Board of Education carefully considered options at the public board and ad hoc committee meetings when examining the potential configuration of our facilities," Quinones said. "We reviewed pertinent enrollment data, financials and scenario-based alternatives."
The plan also will move the district's preschool program and several administrative offices to the Kirkmere Elementary building. Quinones said that, depending on the census area, some Kirkmere and Volney students will now attend Volney, Taft or Paul C. Bunn schools, and some Taft students within a particular census area will be shifted to Paul C. Bunn.
"Rest assured, the decision was to create an even more efficient learning environment and maximize building operations," Quinones said. "The district will communicate with impacted families to identify a plan moving forward. Youngstown City Schools remains committed to educational excellence and sincerely thanks our families for entrusting us with their scholars' education."
Eric Teutsch, Spanish teacher and president of the Youngstown Education Association teachers union, said he can see the sense in some of the changes but is still looking for clarification on how the district will carry out the overhaul.
"I understand the logic in flipping Volney and Chaney, that makes sense because Volney has lockers for junior high kids and Chaney does not," he said.
"My main concern is how they intend to implement what they are trying to do," Teutsch said. "What that means for staffing and how they're going to go about the move. Are there going to be any job cuts? I haven't gotten any answers on any of that yet."
Teutsch said he is supposed to meet with Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor soon to discuss those concerns and to make sure the move is carried out with respect for the newly negotiated contract the union signed with the district in September.
"I'm still trying to learn about it," he said. "I'm hoping to get those concerns addressed some time in the next couple days."