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Schools’ climate deemed adverse
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City district survey points to low morale
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A survey of city school district students and staff shows low morale and a negative view of many factors within the schools.
“It’s disturbing to us, the results [that show] the morale of the staff and the students,” said Anthony Catale, school board president. “Certainly, morale plays a big part in student achievement.”
The school district contracted with the Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center of Zanesville for the work. The district paid $150,000 to the ESC to develop and monitor systemic changes designed to remove non- academic barriers to student learning. The survey is part of that work.
The surveys were conducted at the end of the last school year.
Everyone has to play their part in making the city school district a success, Catale said.
“That takes collaboration,” he said. “We are all — parents, students, staff, board members, community, administrators — we’re all in this system together. We all have a stake in how the district performs.”
Connie Hathorn, deputy district superintendent who will take over as superintendent in January, plans to assemble a team to review the survey results and determine a course of action.
“A lot of times with these surveys, they don’t report the results back to the respondents,” Hathorn said.
He wants to share the results with the groups involved.
“This is what students said about you,” Hathorn said, referring to teachers. “As a team, how can we change that?”
Results were based on a desirability rating system with 90 percent or higher being “optimal,” 76 percent to 89.9 percent “desirable” and 75 percent or lower “unhealthy.”
Most elements were rated at the unhealthy level.
Questions covered students’ perceptions of school, parent and teacher expectations of them, involvement in activities and peer relations.
Surveys of staff, including teachers and other employees, dealt with maximizing opportunities for academic learning, youth development and addressing nonacademic barriers to student success.
The full survey results may be viewed on the district’s website.
William Bagnola, president of the union representing teachers, hasn’t seen the survey, but he believes the reason so many students are going to charter schools or districts that allow open enrollment is because there’s a perception of discipline and safety issues within the school buildings.
“It has nothing to do with the quality of the academics because they’re worse than we are,” Bagnola said, referring to most charter schools in the Mahoning Valley. “They think that what the survey is saying is true.”
With recent changes within the district, Catale believes it’s on the right track to improve that morale and bolster student achievement.
The employee contracts that had been in limbo have been settled, the commission overseeing district finances has asked the state to release it from fiscal emergency, there’s a new superintendent and more parents are getting involved in the district, he said.
“As we continue to build the momentum we are building in this district, the morale will come,” Catale said. “There’s no doubt about it, we’re working to change a culture and that doesn’t happen overnight.”