We are excited that new legislative language finally provides an achievable path for Youngstown City Schools to emerge from state academic control.

But limited response from parents and city residents to the call for their involvement indicates they may be less excited than we are. Only five people attended a meeting earlier this month where the Youngstown Board of Education hoped to gather public input on an academic improvement plan.

Other meetings were scheduled for Tuesday evening and again Aug. 31 at the Choffin Career and Technical Center, 200 E. Wood St.

We encourage attendance in the final meeting on Aug. 31 and increased involvement by the community.

Undoubtedly, the state takeover of Youngstown City Schools and two others in Ohio that are academically struggling has been a failed experiment. The failure of that experiment was made even more clear during recent news conferences outlining ongoing poor performance of students in Youngstown City Schools.

Now, though, new state legislation puts forth a plan in which school districts in Youngstown, Lorain and East Cleveland can emerge from the state control if they successfully reach specific benchmarks in the process.

These three districts first were placed under the control of state academic distress commissions five years ago under a hastily passed House Bill 70, commonly referred to as “the Youngstown Plan.” The legislation stripped local control from elected boards of education when a school district received failing grades on state report cards over three consecutive years.

Sadly, five years into it, Youngstown has not seen significant improvement, the community has not bought into the program and students still struggle academically.

Restoring local control is vital. But first, the local governing board and administration must raise the bar.

It’s true that inner-city schools often face challenges that originate outside the school buildings. High crime, single-parent homes, poverty, racism and other struggles are issues that students at many suburban or rural districts generally don’t face at such a high rate.

Still, we must not allow these obstacles as a reason to accept poor performance. We must raise the bar. We believe that when high expectations are set by parents, by teachers and by a school system, students will work harder to achieve them.

We must have involvement, input and support from the community. Without that family and community buy-in, these students — and ultimately, their long-term futures — will suffer.

One of the steps to get out of the academic distress commission is to develop a plan and submit it to the state superintendent for approval. The districts have only until Sept. 30 to develop these plans and present them to the state superintendent of instruction. The superintendent then will review the plans, make recommendations and send them back to the school districts for improvements.

By the end of June 2022, the plans should be finished by the district and approved by the Ohio Department of Education, and Youngstown should be in a position to have local control returned to the elected board of education.

This is just one example of where and why the community should be stepping up to give input.

Youngstown City Schools CEO Justin Jennings said it well in his recent call for more community involvement.

The only people who can change the Youngstown school district are the citizens of Youngstown, Jennings said. “We can’t wait for Columbus or anyone else. We have to step up and do it.”