Valley’s core cities need better schools

By Thomas Humphries

The Vindicator

Last week was quite a roller coaster ride for Youngstown’s self-esteem. One day, a New York Times article celebrated our economic revival. Then, just days later, new education report cards showed that Youngstown City Schools still aren’t making the grade. It was a Tale of Two Youngstowns based on hard truths, not fiction.

A similar scenario played out in Warren. A New York Times article citing Warren’s progress in repopulating its Garden District was followed by business leaders pledging tens of thousands of dollars toward that purpose. But days later, Warren City Schools received mostly Fs on its state report card.

In my role as president and CEO of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, I can assure you that the Mahoning Valley cannot reach its full potential without much stronger K-12 school systems in our core cities. Each and every day, we are trying to attract job creators to our region, and a strong education system is at the top of their wish lists. Our region’s employers as well as those seeking to locate here need a well-educated workforce — a need that’s greater today than ever before.

The best part of the Valley’s improving economy is the renewed hope it’s giving those of us who would never want to live anywhere else. Maybe our kids can have a better future than ours after all, without moving away to find it. Maybe our friends and family who left for their idea of greener pastures will come home. Maybe once great neighborhoods that now have more boarded-up homes than occupied ones can start turning around.

These dreams can’t come true without all of our area schools being good schools.

The state’s latest report card for Youngstown City Schools — which showed nearly all F’s and a few D’s — should serve as a rallying cry for every one of us in our area. Our students are struggling, and we need to come together now as a community with the same grit that helped us turn around our economy to fix our schools.

YOUNGSTOWN SOLUTIONS

There have been conversations in The Vindicator about the best way to get this started. Should the state take the lead. or should we trigger change ourselves?

I believe Youngstown problems require Youngstown solutions. The same strength of the Valley that shined through in the recent New York Times story should lead us to take this challenge on ourselves. If we fail to act, our solutions will be in the hands of government bureaucrats in Columbus.

These are OUR schools!

Two Ohio cities — Cleveland and Columbus — each developed a plan to transform its schools. These were developed by their own local leadership, but they asked the governor and the General Assembly to help them make changes in state laws and policies that would make their districts stronger. The result, in each case, was unprecedented cooperation among the school district, the city, legislators, charter schools, labor and businesses that are making their schools and communities stronger.

As business leaders across the nation read stories about our city’s economic renaissance, let’s send a message that we’re serious about renewing our schools. The work we do in Youngstown could then serve as a blueprint for Warren, which had just as many F’s and a lower performance index on its report card.

Now that we have the full support of Gov. John Kasich to move forward, it is time for our community to work together to solve our education deficiencies.

Let’s no longer be a sorry Tale of Two Youngstowns, or Tale of Two Warrens, but rather a strong, unified and improving community with one solid tale of success for the rest of the nation.

Tom Humphries is president & CEO of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber.