Y’town schools inexplicably don’t want to race to the top

When President Obama visits Youngstown this afternoon and addresses a gathering of V&M Star employees, managers and the usual herd of politicians and journalists, we hope he does not tout the federal “Race to the Top” education grant program in his remarks about jobs and the economy. There will be a lot of squirming on the part of local officeholders if he does.

Why? Because the Youngstown City School District, which has the distinction of being the worst academic performing system in the state of Ohio, is not participating in the state’s effort to win the competition for federal dollars. It’s the second time the Youngstown district will not be on the list.

Earlier this year, Ohio placed 10th with 266 of the state’s 613 school districts and 215 of the 322 charter schools taking part. In the second round — the deadline for submitting memorandums of understanding to Ohio Department of Education was 4 p.m. Friday — 311 districts and 199 charter schools submitted signed agreements.

But none of the systems that declined to participate offer as glaring a commentary on the inexplicable myopia of the decision-makers as that of Youngstown. When you are the very worst, wanting to improve should be a no-brainer.

And yet, just as he did earlier this year, the president of the Youngstown Education Association refused to sign the memorandum of understanding. To their credit, the superintendent of the city schools, Dr. Wendy Webb, and the president of the board of education, Anthony Catale, did sign the document, just as they did in the first round.

What was YEA President Will Bagnola’s explanation for not changing his position?

“Everything is still the same from my understanding,” Bagnola told The Vindicator.

That is a plainly pathetic justification for the union’s intransigence. After the YEA refused to go along with the administration and the school board in the first round, we urged all parties to find a resolution to issues raised by the teachers’ union. We warned that the last thing the academically challenged city school district needs is a reputation for being content with the status quo.

Unfortunately, our warning has gone unheeded.

The complaint

What is the YEA’s complaint? It and other teacher unions contend that signing the memorandum of understanding would violate the terms of their negotiated labor contracts. Bagnola said earlier this year that seniority rights could be lost and teacher unions object to having job evaluations tied to student performance. Such performance can be affected by conditions that are beyond the control of the teachers, the unions argue.

But seeing as how 311 districts in Ohio are participating in the “Race to the Top” program, how challenging would it have been to determine how they addressed contractual barriers to their participation?

If the commitment is to improve the academic performance of the Youngstown City School District, no impediment is too great to overcome.

Indeed, the state of Ohio’s chances of being a winner in the competition would be greatly improved by having the worst academic performing district as a participant. We have no doubt that state education officials would have offered their help in getting the YEA on board.

Instead, Youngstown is on the outside looking in — again.