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City schools focus on rebuilding academics
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
youngstowN
Students in the city school district begin the school year with more consistency among grade configurations but under a continuing cloud of academic and fiscal distress.
With the exception of a few minor projects — such as construction of a fire road at East High School — the building program is complete.
Woodrow Wilson Middle School was the last school to be built in the program that began in 2000. The $187 million program was funded 80 percent by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
“We’re just happy it’s done,” said Anthony Catale, school board president.
“All of our school buildings have been renovated or are new from the ground up,” he said.
Having all new buildings could help to build and increase pride both in the students who attend the schools and the community at large, he said.
“We need to open the doors to the people in the community,” Catale said. “These are the community’s school buildings.”
The board hopes that by having new schools, student achievement will be spurred, but that’s only one part of the equation, he said.
“We need to continue to watch what’s going on in the classroom and in [students’] home lives as well,” the board president said.
During the building project, different schools had different grade configurations as students were shifted around while new schools were built and others remodeled. For example, some elementary schools were kindergarten through fourth grade, some were preschool to sixth, and others were preschool to fourth.
Finishing the work on the buildings will change that, allowing the district to develop a feeder program to channel students to specific schools as they advance.
“This will start more consistency for the district,” said Superintendent Wendy Webb.
Earlier this year, the school board approved a plan designed to build systemwide cohesiveness and enable schools to work together to make the transition from grade to grade smoother.
The plan, which was to begin this fall, was for all elementary schools to house preschool through fifth grade, all middle schools to house sixth through eighth grade and all high schools to accommodate grades nine through 12.
That plan remains in effect with a couple of exceptions.
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School will be a preschool-to-fourth-grade school and P. Ross Berry Middle School will house fifth through eighth grade.
That’s because of a provision in the Academic Recovery Plan calling for a 15-to-1 ratio of students to teachers in kindergarten and first grade. That necessitated more space for those smaller class sizes.
The recovery document was developed by an Academic Distress Commission after the district was declared in academic emergency last year. It’s the first such commission in the state.
The school district is figuring out how to implement that $3.2 million plan. Webb said curriculum changes are expected as part of that plan too.
“We’re working on shoring that up,” she said.
School system finances are under the authority of a state-appointed commission as well.
Since 2006, a fiscal- oversight panel has been in place in the district. Establishment of that commission came after the state auditor declared the district in fiscal emergency.
Even more change is on the way for the district as Webb is retiring at year’s end and a search for her replacement is under way.