Alternative school involves court

The goals are to provide behavior modification, education and job training.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown City School District is looking to partner with the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center in forming a regional alternative education program for high school students who get into trouble.

Shelley Murray, school board president, created an ad hoc board committee earlier this month to look at setting up an alternative school program for troublemakers, and juvenile court Judge Theresa Dellick attended the committee’s first session Tuesday.

She brought an invitation to Youngstown to join in the creation of a regional alternative school, a project that the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center has been working on for the past year.

The program is still in the development stage, but Judge Dellick said the alternative school would be a “last chance” before expulsion for a child who gets in trouble at school.

“That is the court involvement,” she said.

Murray welcomed the chance to participate in a project already under development. Student safety is a major concern in the city schools, she said.

Judge Dellick said the plan is to have the alternative program in place for the start of school this fall.

The alternative school proposal was written by her; Dr. Harold Yiannaki, an administrator emeritus at Youngstown State University; and Cynthia Cairnes, an administrator with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center.

The goal is to create a community program that would serve all of the Mahoning County schools on a year-round basis, Yiannaki said.

The estimate is that there are 900 children in the county eligible for the program.

The Juvenile Justice Center will be the agency that causes kids to attend the school. The state, which is interested in the effort as a pilot program, will be asked to contribute start-up funds to get the program running, Yiannaki said.

It will be a twofold program, he said, explaining that the morning will be spent on academics while the afternoon will focus on career opportunities and training in the construction industry, technologies, health care profession and more.

The proposal spells out that the ultimate goal is to provide behavior modification and education to produce employable students and community-oriented individuals.

Dr. Wendy Webb, city schools superintendent, said the young offenders will basically be given the option of going to the school or being incarcerated.

Their expulsion would be held in abeyance but they will have to attend the school, she said.

Students will be assigned to the school for varying periods of time and, in some cases, permanently, Yiannaki said.

A site for the school hasn’t been determined yet, Webb said, noting that she anticipates positive results.

Youngstown kids who get in trouble with the law and are incarcerated at the Juvenile Justice Center go to classes at that facility now and generally show improvement in their academic performance as a result, she said.

They don’t have outside distractions and little else to do but attend to their studies in that environment, she said.

Children sent to the alternative school wouldn’t be incarcerated but would be responsible for attending the classes and completing their work.

gwin@vindy.com