YOUNGSTOWN — As a new school year gets underway in the Youngstown City School District, most stakeholders probably will notice few physical changes in the buildings, though the majority of major transformations will be occurring behind the scenes, the district’s top official contends.

“Obviously, we will go on with the work we began, and continue to work and prepare for unification at our middle school and high school,” Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said.

Batchelor was among those who outlined his perspectives, hopes and goals about the upcoming school year at a district convocation Monday morning at Stambaugh Auditorium. The two-hour gathering drew a packed house of hundreds of students, parents, teachers, administrators and others.

The school year begins Aug. 26. This week, the teachers will begin two days of standard professional development, he said.

The district’s three key pillars and focus areas are literacy and math improvements, along with culture and climate — the latter of which includes attendance, Batchelor noted.

Also needed is to build on a holistic approach, which features a greater number of people realizing they have a part to play not only in bettering the schools, but, by extension, contributing to the city’s growth, he said.

“It’s important that everyone sees their role in the Youngstown City Schools and the city being better. As the schools go, so goes our city,” the superintendent said.

Suffice it to say that ideal is continuing to play out. Regarding the district’s Academic Improvement Plan, double-digit gains have been seen across several areas, he noted.

Batchelor also said, however, that he will be unable to provide figures, or a specific overall state of the district, until about Sept. 15, after the state report card is issued.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to an inordinately high number of teachers leaving the district. Nevertheless, the number of teacher resignations has dropped 38% between 2021 and 2025, Batchelor said.

Also, the number of fights in the schools continues to decrease, as more students become “engaged in academics, not foolishness,” he continued.

In addition, a great deal of focus will be on the district’s two-pronged reconfiguration project and development initiative, the first of which will begin in the 2026-27 school year and result in one high school and a single middle school, both on the East Side.

The move, which was announced in May, is in part reflective of a decrease in the number of students in the district, which is about 4,600, Batchelor said.

The overriding goal of merging Chaney and East high schools as well as Chaney and East middle schools into one middle and high school each “is to ensure every scholar has continued access to career and college readiness, high-quality instruction and a cohesive school identity while utilizing our resources responsibly and fiscally,” according to the YCSD website.

“I hope (stakeholders) see that unification is the best thing for Youngstown,” Batchelor said, adding that another of his goals for the district is to further engage with city government and partner with Youngstown State University, as well as be proactive in city events.

Also addressing the large, enthusiastic crowd was board of education member Joseph Meranto, who called for a greater team approach throughout the school year.

He also asked the district’s bus drivers, food-service and security personnel, custodians and maintenance employees, social workers, secretaries, teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, nurses and board of education members, along with Batchelor and Robert Kearns, the district’s chief of staff, to stand and be recognized. Each individual and group was met with resounding applause.

“You do great work and are often unseen and unnoticed,” Meranto said, referring to the social workers.