Youngstown City School's East High School will absorb students from Chaney High School for one common traditional high school for the city. Fifty years ago, the district had six high schools.

YOUNGSTOWN ‑– The Youngstown City School District will implement a two-phase reconfiguration project and development initiative in which Chaney and East high schools will be merged into one central school.

The first phase will get underway in the 2026-27 school year, district Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said during a news conference Friday afternoon at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School, 20 W. Wood St.

“This is a pivotal moment in the journey of the Youngstown School District,” Batchelor told a standing-room-only crowd of several dozen.

The single high school, which will house students in grades nine to 12 but has not been named, will be in the current East High building, 474 Bennington Ave., on the East Side. That location will be an excellent fit because it has relatively new athletic fields, ideal learning spaces and enough capacity to handle the number of students the merger will bring under one roof, he said.

The driving force behind the two-prong reconfiguration is to reduce the size of the district’s footprint in a shrinking city while further advancing educational opportunities and resources. Other goals are to ensure all students have access to career and college readiness and high-quality instruction, along with a “cohesive school identity while utilizing our resources responsibly and fiscally,” a district press release states.

Chaney and East High schools have 479 and 524 students, respectively, Batchelor said, noting that an estimated 80% of the two schools’ juniors and seniors also attend Choffin Career and Technical Center for part of the school day.

When the new central high school opens, no more than 700 students will be in the building at any given time because the juniors will attend Choffin in the morning and the seniors will go there in the afternoon, Batchelor explained. He added that the reconfiguration plan also may mean staff reductions, though he provided no details about that Friday.

In addition, the first phase will entail consolidating Chaney and East middle schools into a single, central school that will be in the current East Middle, 940 Bryn Mawr Ave., and will “streamline resources and implement innovative teaching and learning methodologies,” the news release shows.

A potentially sticky issue that has to be worked out is transportation, Batchelor said.

In June 2024, the Youngstown Board of Education moved to eliminate busing for most high school students, amid a bus driver shortage. Students were encouraged to use Western Reserve Transit Authority buses as an alternative means of getting to and from school.

Transportation remains “a point of contention,” primarily because of certain legislative mandates and requirements to bus students who do not attend the city schools, Batchelor said.

Nevertheless, district officials are committed to advocating for legislative adjustments to ease such burdens, the superintendent added.

“We will be proactive in what we do,” he said.

Batchelor also mentioned Ohio Senate Bill 127, which would, in effect, revise the state’s public school closure law and require poor performing schools to close or adopt remedial action.

Batchelor gave few details Friday about the reconfiguration’s second phase, except to say that it would entail moving Youngstown Rayen Early College High School and Middle School in the 2027-28 school year to the old Chaney High School building on the city’s West Side.

Juanita Walker, board president, said that the reconfiguration project will place students first by making sure they maintain access to a quality education and resources while enhancing the district’s identity.

Similarly, the reconfiguration also promises to align with continuous-improvement efforts and allow stakeholders to come together to elevate the district’s vision to provide a brighter future for students, as well as for generations to come, Tina Cvetkovich, board vice president and the reconfiguration committee chairwoman, said.

Another key component will be transparency. To that end, the district intends to launch a website that will contain time lines for a variety of changes, along with updates and necessary information, Batchelor noted. Also in the works are town hall sessions, family nights, student forums and teams to provide input regarding branding and naming the new high school, along with school culture, he explained.

The public will have its first chance to provide input at a meeting set May 27.

Overall, the reconfiguration is about “excellence and equity,” Batchelor said.

“We have to move forward in the new Youngstown,” he added.