Panel to help people get apprenticeships

Representatives of some area unions have been invited to the meeting.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The chairman of city council's education committee wants to work with area unions to improve access to apprenticeships.
At the first meeting of the committee under the chairmanship of Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, at 5 p.m. Monday, apprenticeship job training is among agenda items.
"We want to work with the unions; that's why the unions have been invited to attend," he said.
It's sometimes difficult for someone interested in obtaining an apprenticeship to get one.
"If someone's been out of school 15, 20 years and then they have to take a test, that can be difficult," Atkinson said. "We're trying to come up with some kinds of remediation training or programs to help them."
Representatives of Choffin Career Center, the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union and the city school district also have been invited to the meeting.
"It's a two-way street," Atkinson said. "We want to see if we can come up with a way to help the unions, help the city and help the individuals" who want apprenticeships.
Another matter
Also on the agenda is the topic of after-school programs.
Atkinson said that if the city school district's financial difficulties lead to a decision to cut after-school programs, the city needs to help come up with a solution, working with other agencies to provide a place for those pupils to go.
Although no decisions have been made, the school district has talked of reducing night school and intervention programs that include extended day programs and summer school programs.
School district officials said last month that the school system is facing a $4 million deficit by year's end and could be placed in state fiscal watch status.
Part of the problem is a loss of nearly 400 students whose families have moved out of the city along with a reduction in state subsidies that the district had anticipated.