Chaney parents address violence 2 small groups of students blamed

Recent trouble brought 50 parents to an impromptu meeting at the school.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Eugene Mickel of Volney Road put three children through South High School and said he has a solution to a series of ongoing fights among students at Chaney High School.

“It’s the parents’ fault,” Mickel said after an impromptu meeting of concerned parents, guardians and school officials in the Chaney library Friday.

If the parent isn’t doing his or her job, he or she should suffer, Mickel said, suggesting that the parents of a child caught fighting should be required to spend a full week in school with their child.

“That kid wouldn’t fight again. I guarantee it,” he said.

Mickel, who has a granddaughter at Chaney, admitted there might be some enforcement difficulties with his idea, but said parents could be asked to sign a pledge guaranteeing they will serve a week in school if their child fights.

Some 50 parents and guardians gathered in the library to express fears and concerns about recent fights and reports of threats at Chaney.

Things came to a head Thursday when two girls got into a fight as school was being dismissed and the violence drew the attention of some of the 1,300 students being dismissed from the building.

It also drew the attention of police who wound up spraying some 50 students with chemical Mace when they failed to leave the area as directed by officers.

Angela J. Jones, 38, of East Ravenwood Avenue, a volunteer cheerleading coach at Chaney, was arrested after police said she knocked an officer down when she opened a door in the building.

Lisa Donnorummo of Scheetz Avenue said she grew very concerned when her daughter, a Chaney student, got a text message about a possible shooting that was to occur at the school Friday.

She left the meeting dissatisfied, saying she doesn’t feel the issues were adequately addressed.

Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, got a message across to the 50 or so parents at the meeting, but what about the parents of the other 1,250 kids, Donnorummo asked, questioning how the superintendent is going to get the message to them.

Those attending the meeting were given pen and paper to write down their concerns and questions, and Webb and Bob Spencer, Chaney dean, did address some of them.

Both stayed after the meeting to speak with people individually, and Webb said she is willing to arrange small group meetings with parents.

“I think this is wonderful,” she said of the parent turnout for the unofficial meeting. “This is a turnaround for the Youngstown city schools.”

Webb said she will need some extra help over the next few weeks to help calm things down at Chaney. There have been some operational changes such as altering bus schedules and putting more administrators into the school hallways, but parents need to take some responsibility, she said.

The school provides conflict mediation training for children, but parents need to reinforce that at home. They must instruct their children to use their minds and their mouths, not their fists, she said.

They also need to tell their children that, when they see a confrontation, they should move away from it, not toward it. That gives school officials a better opportunity to intervene and lessens the chance of additional trouble, she said.

Spencer said the problem at Chaney boils down to two small groups of primarily young male students who are “gang wannabes” and believe they are “a law unto themselves.”

The girls involved in Thursday’s fight are part of those two groups, he said.

The girls have been suspended as have seven boys, Spencer said, vowing that the district won’t let those groups destroy Chaney High School.

Wilson High School closed this year, and half of its students are now at Chaney. Suggestions that the squabbles have been a Chaney vs. Wilson issue aren’t true, Spencer said. Those causing the problems were Chaney students last year, he said.

Webb said she doesn’t want to minimize the situation but pointed out that 99 percent of the Chaney students are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. It’s a few that are causing problems for the rest, she said.

gwin@vindy.com