Youngstown losing gender-based schools

YOUNGSTOWN —  The city school district’s experiment with gender schools is expected to come to a close when the new Wilson and Rayen middle schools open in the fall of 2009.

Financial problems that put the district into state-mandated fiscal emergency and the resulting districtwide cutbacks mean Youngstown won’t be able to continue maintaining separate buildings for the Alpha School of Excellence for Boys and the Athena School of Excellence for Girls once the new middle schools are open.

The district is down-sizing and cutting back, said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent.

That doesn’t mean the separation of programs by gender will necessarily come to a complete halt, she said.

“We will keep the concept,” Webb said, suggesting that some gender-specific classes may be built into the curriculum at both Wilson and Rayen.

The idea of opening gender schools grew out of a need for drastic action to address low academic performance at the middle school level, Webb said.