Teachers have a key role in recovery of city schools

When Youngstown city schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn unveiled his ambitious plan to revitalize the academically challenged district, he made it a point to discuss the important role teachers will play and said, “The teachers are ready for change.”

That opinion will be put the test in the not too distant future when Hathorn solicits applications for teaching positions at Chaney Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and visual and performing arts school, the eighth- and ninth-grade academy and the alternative school. The applicants will go through an interview process and, if accepted, would have access to an array of professional development initiatives.

What Dr. Hathorn, who took over as superintendent in January, wants is to attract the best and the brightest to the three schools. That’s because they are at the core of the Youngstown School District Revitalization Plan, which has been adopted by the school board and embraced by the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission.

The commission was impaneled after the state superintendent of education declared the district to be in academic emergency. The designation was prompted by the failure of the schools to show improvement in the state proficiency tests.

Hathorn’s hiring as the successor to Dr. Wendy Webb has thus far proved to be a step in the right direction, but the new academic year will pose the greatest challenge to the new leader.

That’s why he sought and received the commission’s permission to set aside the seniority provision in the labor contract with regard to the assignment of teachers.

The commission is empowered by state statute to recover management rights that have been bargained away over the years. The panel, which has developed an academic recovery plan for the district, acted on Hathorn’s request earlier this month.

Debra Mettee, commission chairwoman, said the superintendent must have the ability to make assignments based on the skills of the teachers who apply for the positions in the three schools.

When Hathorn was asked by commission members if he believed there would be the necessary number of teachers interested in teaching at the alternative school and the eighth- and ninth-grade academy, he said, “I do. There are people who want to teach that grade level.”

Something different

Kathleen Garcia, a member of the commission, was right on the mark when she said of the revitalization plan that has been put forth by the superintendent, “[The schools] need something dramatically different, and this is dramatically different.”

There is a lot at stake, especially with Gov. John Kasich’s recent warning that the clock is ticking on failing school districts.

The Youngstown system recently emerged from fiscal emergency, and now it must address the academic shortcomings that have prompted the state department of education to intervene.