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2 schools to receive $3.5M in stimulus
3-year grant to aid East High, Odyssey
By HAROLD GWIN
YOUNGSTOWN
Two city schools will share more than $3.5 million in federal School Improvement Grant funds over the next three years.
The money, part of the federal government’s stimulus package, is to be used in academically struggling schools to improve student performance by providing resources to help the schools improve their practices and support systems provided to students.
East High School, with 983 students, is in line for $718,986 in fiscal 2011, which begins July 1, and $524,340 in both fiscal 2012 and 2013.
Odyssey: School of Possibilities, with 100 students, will get $725,000 in fiscal 2011 and $534,850 in both 2012 and 2013.
In Ohio, only 42 schools will be getting School Improvement Grants, and Youngstown is the only district in the tri-county area to receive the funding. Applications were handled by the Ohio Department of Education and were open to the lowest-achieving 5 percent of schools in the state. A total of 737 schools were eligible to apply.
East was rated in academic watch while Odyssey was in academic emergency on their 2009 state local report cards.
Applying for the funds was a competitive process in March, and Superintendent Wendy Webb said at the time that Youngstown would “definitely” seek some of those funds.
“ODE will be working closely with the schools awarded SIG funding to ensure the school-improvement strategies are successfully implemented to achieve the goals of improving teaching and learning,” said Deborah Delisle, state superintendent of public instruction.
Each year, schools receiving funds must demonstrate that they are making satisfactory progress with their plan to continue the receipt of funds.
Youngstown will be required to replace the principal at both schools, develop plans to increase teacher and school-leader effectiveness, institute comprehensive instructional reforms, increase learning time and create a community-oriented atmosphere while providing operational flexibility and sustained support.
The district will have to work those changes around a new academic-recovery plan being drafted for Youngstown by a state Academic Distress Commission appointed to help Youngstown get out of its academic-emergency rating. The commission is to adopt a final version of that recovery plan Monday.