Group seeks commitment to fix Youngstown schools

Group seeks commitment to fix Youngstown schools

Youngstown

State and local leaders were placed on the hot seat at Thursday’s ACTION meeting, where community members requested from them specific levels of commitment toward fixing the education system in Youngstown.

At the meeting themed “Save Our Children,” state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, Youngstown Superintendent Connie Hathorn and Larry Ellis from the Youngstown Education Association sat at a table in front of a packed Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church on the city’s east side.

The requests ranged from micro-level fixes like Hathorn’s commitment to holding teachers more accountable to macro-level changes like a commitment from Schiavoni to fight any attempt from the state to eliminate the city’s public schools.

“We save our kids, we save our city,” Hathorn said, followed by the night’s largest applause.

Schiavoni promised by next year to pursue changing the formula for public schools, which the state supreme court deemed unconstitutional in 2002 yet hasn’t changed, he said.

“It’s criminal,” he said.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com