perceptions

perceptions

Youngstown schools

An informal community survey conducted by a local nonprofit group found that some residents of the city school district believe:

Reading, math and science scores at all levels are unacceptable.

There is no successful home-school-community partnership at every school.

The politicization of the education process at the school board and classroom level is too negative.

There is a low level of trust between the school board and the majority of families with children in the city schools.

There isn’t a positive, warm, respectful and welcoming environment at every school.

Negative rhetoric of politicians and administrators outweighs the positive.

There is no clear, board-approved strategic plan available to parents and the public detailing how to achieve an academic excellence rating from the state.

There appears to be a degrading criminalization of pupils who have no criminal intent or background.

Some police officers treat pupils as jailbirds in a prison instead of pupils going through a major development and maturation change.

There are pupils with no books to take home.

Many parents and pupils have no course syllabus.

Too many teachers take on social responsibilities that should be handled by family, school counselors or others.

Best academic-practice classroom teachers are not the norm in all schools.

Underperforming teachers are allowed too much time to undereducate children.

Source: FAMILY Empowerment Student Achievement Institute