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Major news about schools on hold
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
City school officials plan a major announcement about the district, but the announcement is on hold after the state requested more information.
A news conference was set for Monday, but it was postponed.
Lock P. Beachum Sr., school-board president, said the announcement was delayed because the state wanted more information.
That delay did not sit well with some school-board members.
“Youngs-town cannot delay,” Beachum said at a meeting Monday. “We can’t afford to continue to lose 300 to 400 students per year.”
Beachum said he spoke Monday with Deborah Delisle, the state superintendent, and district officials also planned to speak with the representative on the state school board.
The as-yet-to-be-unveiled plan, which is expected to be implemented this fall, has been dubbed a revitalization plan by the district.
“We’re reviewing the academic settings in the schools at Choffin, East and Chaney — at the high school level — and then we’ll look at the middle schools and see if there are any changes that are needed there,” Beachum said.
Superintendent Connie Hathorn has some suggestions, the board president said, “but we’re not able to be specific at this time.”
The Youngstown Academic Distress Commission was scheduled to meet today “to review district staffing and building configuration” but that meeting also was canceled.
The school board plans a special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday. Beachum said representatives from the Ohio Department of Education will be in the district earlier that day.
An announcement may come at that meeting “if we get positive” feedback from the state, Beachum said.
Also at Monday’s meeting, school board members approved a resolution to enter into an agreement with the city for use of the Jackson School property on Windsor Avenue.
The district isn’t using the property where the school was demolished a few years ago.
The resolution authorizes Harry Evans, district chief of operations, to enter a lease agreement allowing the city to use the former school site.
The city wants to develop a walking park on the site for the community’s use in coordination with Treez Please, a local organization, and volunteers from the 7th Ward.
The district will retain ownership of the property, and the city will bear responsibility for the insurance and property upkeep and maintenance.