Commission: Hold parents responsible for problem students

YOUNGSTOWN — If city schoolchildren who are repeat disciplinary offenders are a problem for the school district, perhaps their parents should start a charter school to get them out of the city system.

That’s an “alternative” to the school district considering placing those children in an alternative school setting, Jimma McWilson told the city school board Tuesday.

It would put the responsibility for correcting the behavior of those children back on the parents where it belongs, said McWilson, a member of the Community High Commission on Closing the Academic Standards Achievement Gap for Afrikan Students in the Youngstown City Schools.

McWilson said his organization will be consulting with parents of suspended students on their possible use of state vouchers to send their children to private schools, enrolling them in existing charter schools or working to start their own charter school.

He was responding to a Vindicator story last week about an ad hoc committee recently set up to review the district’s student disciplinary policies and determine if they are being fairly and evenly enforced. Creating an alternative school setting is something the committee is discussing.

For the complete story, read Wednesda's Vindicator or Vindy.com