YOUNGSTOWN — TaNeka Allison favors the Youngstown City School District’s major two-phase reconfiguration project and development initiative announced last month, but feels that more than brick and mortar is needed to ensure its success and vitality.

“The parents need to have a positive mindset that will encourage the students to have a positive mindset for this to go smoothly,” Allison, a cosmetology instructor at Choffin Career and Technical Center, said.

Allison, a 2005 Wilson High School graduate, added that she felt such a move should have been done when she was in school 20 years ago.

She also was among the estimated 100 parents, teachers, students, school officials and others who attended a 90-minute town hall session Wednesday in the East High School auditorium to learn more details about the project, as well as to offer their feedback and input.

In an effort to reduce the district’s footprint in a shrinking city, the reconfiguration will merge Chaney and East high schools into a single school at East, 474 Bennington Ave. on the East Side, along with Chaney and East middle schools into one school at the current East Middle, 940 Bryn Mawr Ave., also on the East Side, by the 2026-27 school year.

The effort also will entail combining Youngstown Rayen Early College Middle and High schools at the current Chaney High, 731 S. Hazelwood Ave., on the West Side.

“I just hope our community and our parents support this,” Allison said.

During Wednesday’s session, it was announced that the new school names will be Youngstown Unified High School and Youngstown Unified Middle School. Seven mascot names are being considered, with the final decision likely in the next week or two, Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said.

Batchelor also addressed key points regarding why he and others contend the reconfiguration is necessary. He noted that the move was the result of more than a year of meetings and exploring a variety of possible scenarios.

Core reasons for the project are to allow the district to be more fiscally responsible, have greater space and building efficiency and to address shifting enrollment patterns. In addition, the reconfiguration plan will not cause students to lose their school identity in the new environment; also, most staff reductions will be handled through attrition, with an aim to preserve programs and staffing levels, Batchelor noted.

Between 80% and 85% of the district’s juniors and seniors attend Choffin during part of the school day. With the new plan, all of them will be asked to do so to be exposed to expanded programming and opportunities to take college-credit courses, he explained.

Amplifying the need for the move is reflected in a version of Ohio’s biennial budget, which may result in the district losing $2 million to $4 million in state funding. That reduction could lead to hiring freezes, increased class sizes, program cuts or delays, deferred maintenance and service reductions, delays in reaching district goals and cuts to mental health, tutoring and other programs for at-risk students, he warned.

“We’re not going to sit around and wait for the shoe to drop,” Batchelor said, adding that the district intends to take a proactive stance via being fiscally responsible.

The superintendent also expressed concern about Ohio Senate Bill 127, which would revise closure requirements for poor-performing public schools or obligate them to take remedial action.

The bill defines a poor-performing school as one that, serving grades four and up, has performed at the bottom 5% among public schools based on its Performance Index Score for three consecutive years.

An audit about three years ago said that it wasn’t necessary for the district to have 14 buildings, given the number of students in the Youngstown City Schools, so it became imperative for the district to reduce its footprint and to “do more with less at a higher level.” Batchelor said.

Another key piece that needs to be worked out is transportation, though a restoration plan has yet to come into sharper focus, Robert Kearns, the district’s chief of staff, noted.

Besides a bus driver shortage, making the transportation aspect more challenging is state legislation that requires the district to transport a significant number of students who do not attend Youngstown City Schools. The mandate places financial and logistical strains on the district, Batchelor said, adding that efforts are underway to advocate for legislative adjustments to ease such a burden.

In June 2024, the board of education voted to eliminate busing for most high school students, who then were encouraged to use Western Reserve Transit Authority city buses to get to and from school.

Guy Burney, executive director of the city’s Community Initiative to Reduce Violence program, said that about 657 individuals, including 256 students, took part in a recent community survey related to the reconfiguration. A key finding was that many of them want to see “a reduction in drama,” such as fights and violence in general.

It’s also incumbent on parents to address negative situations and not allow them to be ignored, Burney said. He added that many young people in the district know how to properly deal with conflict.

Juanita Walker, board president and a 1996 graduate of The Rayen School, expressed excitement about the move, saying she’s confident “the right people” are in place to ensure its success.

During the question-and-answer portion, one participant voiced concern about the district’s discipline policy, especially at the middle school level. Others addressed doing something to keep more students in the city schools, improving reading levels in high school students, advocating for mentorship programs and finding ways to increase parental support for the district as a means to chip away at remaining negative perceptions.

“We have to take accountability for ourselves, parents,” a teacher said.

Along those lines, it’s up to parents and other stakeholders to do their part to substitute positivity for fear and negativity; in general, students absorb the types of attitudes parents model, said Batchelor, who became emotional.

“Sometimes as adults, we’re more concerned about turf lines than the students are,” he said, adding, “A lot of what happens and doesn’t happen starts with us. Leave the foolishness at the door.”

Batchelor also stressed that every district nationwide deals with conflict and violence, but regardless of whether they attend urban, rural or other schools, all students want structure and to know they’re loved.