Education confab urges parents to take action

Education confab urges parents to take action

YOUNGSTOWN — High school dropout rates are staggering and funding is scant, but one local organization is turning to parents to solve the crisis in urban school districts.

Faith-based community activist group ACTION had an education conference tonight at the Choffin Career & Technical Center, hoping to begin a “parent movement” to create change in local under-performing districts.

“The main focus is really that — increasing parent involvement,” said Kirk Noden, director of the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing our Neighborhoods. “You can’t improve the quality of schools without them leading the way.”

About 130 parents, administrators, politicians and civic leaders attended the event, hearing lectures on the problem before splitting into seven workshops.

For the complete story, see Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.