Group: Top-notch schools will draw businesses

Quality education can help draw business to the area, officials said.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;By JoANNE VIVIANO & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A group of civic and business leaders will gather with educators this week to launch a program that will focus on transforming the Mahoning Valley from an area that relied on industry to one that relies on top-notch education.
Coining the initiative "From Steel to Scholars," organizers are mum on the details, but Thomas A. Clark, regional president of First Energy, promises "good news" and a program that is "new, different and better" than collaborations of the past.
"We're trying to recognize educational achievement within the Mahoning Valley and really trying to engage the community as a whole in support of that goal," said Clark, who chairs the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber's education task force. "We've always known this community to be the center of steel production, so we've got quite a history here. From that perspective, what we're trying to do is shift the emphasis to the importance of academic achievement, to scholarship, in looking to the future success of the Valley."
Planning stage
Clark said the program has been on the drawing board for about a year.
On Thursday, the task force will unveil specific plans at a luncheon at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex in Liberty.
The keynote speaker is Roderick G.W. Chu, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. The group will also honor school districts that received "excellent" ratings on the most recent round of Ohio Department of Education report cards.
Material announcing the Thursday event says a goal of the new campaign is to support educators in their efforts toward helping all districts achieve that mark.
"It really is an attempt to keep the community engaged in a continued desire to achieve academic excellence in the K to 12 area in the Valley," said Greg Sherlock, vice president of marketing/media/communications for the chamber.
When the chamber prepared a proposal in an attempt to lure a Boeing Corp. plant to the Mahoning Valley, Sherlock said Boeing officials sent a package that included criteria officials were looking for in a location.
"The third or fourth bullet point was the quality of education," Sherlock said. "Education is a huge prerequisite when these companies are looking to relocate.
"From Steel to Scholars is an attempt to really bring the focus to academic excellence."
'Excellent' ratings
In the area of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, seven school districts earned the "excellent" rating on the ODE report cards released this August, based on proficiency test scores and other data from last school year.
"Our goal here is to see all schools able to achieve that excellent mark," Sherlock said.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;viviano@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;