Correspondent photo / Sean Barron More than 100 educators, students, parents and others attended Tuesday’s regular Youngstown Board of Education meeting at Choffin Career and Technical Center, which also gave attendees an opportunity to provide input on a major school configuration plan to merge two high schools into one.

YOUNGSTOWN — Amber Farris sees practicality in a major two-phase reconfiguration project and development initiative in the city schools, though she’s worried about the relational effects merging Chaney and East high schools into a single school may have on some of her students.

“We’re finally responding to the only way we’re going to save ourselves from being taken over by the state,” Farris, a four-year East High art teacher, said after Tuesday’s regular board of education meeting at Choffin Career and Technical Center.

Nevertheless, she is concerned about the reconfiguration component that would have the juniors attend Choffin in the morning and the seniors in the afternoon, because she has a close relationship with her students. Such a requirement could disrupt a large degree of student-teacher continuity she has fostered and may be problematic also because not all 11th and 12th graders will necessarily be interested in career-based instruction or career-technology training, Farris added.

In addition, some of her students, whom she’s had for several grades, might be unable to fit her classes into their schedules, Farris said, adding that the reconfiguration project’s logistics remain murky.

Another worry is that merging two schools into one also could mean that art, music and choir teachers could be cut, because the plan won’t necessarily equate to doubling the number of students into one high school, she continued.

During a news conference earlier this month, Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor announced that beginning in the 2026-27 school year, the project’s first phase will begin. The single school will be in the current East High building, 474 Bennington Ave., on the East Side.

Phase I will also include consolidating Chaney and East middle schools into one central school at 940 Bryn Mawr Ave., also on the East Side.

The driving forces behind the move are reducing the district’s footprint in a city that continues to see a shrinking population and reductions in the number of students in the district, Batchelor has said.

“I was in the (Youngstown school) system 19 years ago and it should have been done then,” Jodi Austin-Brown, a 1987 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate, said.

Austin-Brown was a guidance counselor in the district at that time and serves in the same capacity for Warren City Schools, she added.

In addition, the district has too many offerings at one school and not at another, so a single, centrally located site will be more practical because it will mean everything will be under one roof, Austin-Brown said.

She added that the project is also needed because of the population decrease.

During the public comment portion, several others expressed their feelings and thoughts about the reconfiguration plan, including Diane Gonda, the Literacy Lab special programs teacher at Chaney High. Literacy Lab is designed to improve accuracy, fluency and stamina in reading.

Many freshmen have seen growth and improvement in algebra and biology, and in general, her school is moving in a positive direction, which also means staff members are working well with one another. She is hoping that the reconfiguration won’t interfere with the momentum of progress being made, which also entails a high degree of teamwork, Gonda said.

One student expressed concern that the move could mean added “drama” among students, which could adversely affect them academically. She also was uncertain about what the new school’s discipline policy would look like.

A woman who graduated in 1975 from the district said she supports the project but was worried about the possibility of unused buildings being sold to another school, because that could lead to a further drain of students from the district, she said.

A 1978 East High graduate told the audience of more than 100 educators, parents, students and others that the district has to adapt to population and other changes since the demise of the steel industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Mahoning Valley. During his school days, Youngstown had a population of close to 200,000, the man noted. Its population today is 60,000.

In other business, the board heard a presentation about lockdown safety kits being installed in all buildings. They will contain first aid supplies, water, nonperishable foods, duct tape and other items to be used in the event of natural disasters and manmade emergencies. The kits have a five-year shelf life.

Also at the session, several Paul C. Bunn Elementary School students were recognized for their third-place finish in the eighth annual Junior Solar Sprint Cars competition May 6. They were challenged with developing the fastest, most interesting and best crafted vehicles.

The students will be in a national competition June 27 to July 1 in Nashville, Tennessee, Stacy Quinones, district spokeswoman, said.

Also recognized were valedictorians and salutatorians from Chaney, East and Youngstown Rayen Early College high schools.