City schools must act boldly

A decade ago, KnowledgeWorks came to Youngstown with an audacious idea: Youngstown high school students could not only graduate on time and be prepared for college, but they could also master college material and earn college credits — all while in high school.

From that idea in 2004 was born the Youngstown Early College High School, now rated excellent — the best school in the Youngstown City School District, and one of the best in the region.

Several weeks ago, I accompanied KnowledgeWorks staff to Youngstown to propose another audacious idea: All Youngstown students can meet high achievement levels like the students in the Youngstown Early College High School.

Of course, not all students today are reaching that level of academic success, and the state has labeled the disrict to be in academic distress.

Bold plan

At the request of State Superintendent Stan Heffner, KnowledgeWorks returned in February of this year. We met with the community, teachers, the district and made a presentation to the Academic Distress Commission (which oversees the schools for the state) and proposed what we thought would be the best approach for the district to reach those higher outcomes for students. We offered to help find funding for a bold plan that restructured the district and puts students first. We sincerely thank state Superintendent Heffner, the Academic Distress Commissioners, Youngstown Superintendent Connie Hathorn, community leaders and teachers for the opportunity to present our plan and their thoughtful consideration of it.

Based upon positive and encouraging community, district and teacher feedback, we asked the commission, despite the readily apparent difficulty, to work with the superintendent and teachers to restart the district schools that are rated by the state as less than excellent or effective and to create new choice schools that match the aspirations of the community. We offered to bring in expertise and innovative models from across the country to help teachers and the community to think differently how to reach today’s students with high-quality and rigorous instruction that is also relevant to children.

Flexibility, accountability

We said these new schools could be district schools, not charter schools, if the community preferred, with flexibility in assignment so principals and the community could have autonomy in running them. Central office and the community, including institutions like The Vindicator, would hold them accountable for student outcomes.

Since our visit, the district and the Academic Distress Commission have updated the state-required annual plan for the district, and the state superintendent has approved that plan. That plan does not take up the bold reform we proposed and thus falls short of the systemic reform for which we were advocating. However, we do think their plan may achieve academic gains over the next few years, depending on success in implementation, and possibly even allow the schools to return to the community from state control over the next several years.

But our opinion is that following a course of incremental change for modest gains, building on an outdated model of schooling that heretofore has produced mostly poor outcomes, will not likely produce the kind of dramatic gains toward excellence we are advocating for and Youngstown students deserve.

With this situation, I am reminded of a report I co-authored with the Youngstown Leadership Conference 45 years ago. In that report, entitled “Past Neglects, Future Demands,” we concluded that significant and systemic changes were needed in the community to bring equality to all residents, which at that time was still very unequal.

The report noted: “Essentially, what we are stating to the community is that Youngstown is in a crisis and that there is urgency. The crisis and urgency result from the harsh truth that a rendezvous is occurring between past neglects and future demands. If citizens of Youngstown rise to the occasion, the rendezvous will be glorious. However, their failure to do so could be catastrophic.”

Commitment

As a Youngstown native and a product of the city schools, I care about the outcomes for all of the children in the city. I wish the district and the community success and hope it will rise to the occasion and find that glorious rendezvous I wrote about 45 years ago. Our offer to help remains open. We remain committed to Youngstown, its children and will return again if there is interest in pursuing bold reform to meet these future demands for excellence.

Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, a Youngstown native, is a retired United States Circuit judge for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, currently Of Counsel with Blank Rome LLP and sits on the Board of Directors of KnowledgeWorks in Cincinnati.