Leaders blast Youngstown school board for lack of academic progress

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Board of Education must act with a sense of urgency to improve the academic performance of its students, speakers told the board at a Friday evening meeting.

Jimma McWilson of Youngstown, co-founder of the Family Empowerment Student Achievement Institute, asked the board to devote an hour at its meetings to discussion of academic issues, with a major focus on improving the education of black students.

In terms of academic standards, the board must ask itself: “How are we going to get to excellence, or at least to a B?,” McWilson said.

“We would like to see academic policies and smart goals that would be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely,” McWilson told the board.

Wally Salahuddin of Youngstown, director of the United Front for Educational Justice, blasted the board for “not solving academic policy issues facing this district.”

Any academic improvement plan that doesn’t include parents “is another plan for failure,” he said.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.