Youngstown schools needs more than behavior intervention, counselor says

YOUNGSTOWN

It will take more than a behavior intervention program to reduce the suspension rate at East High School, the director of a counseling center told city school board members.

Last year, the school board, at the direction of the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission, approved a roughly $300,000 contract with D & E Counseling Center of Youngstown to run the in-school suspension program at East High School this school year.

At Tuesday’s regular school-board meeting, Joseph Shorokey, D&E’s executive director, gave a mid-year report on the program, saying data show that the agency’s program didn’t effectively reduce the school’s overall suspension rate.

In-school suspension rates showed some improvement, but there weren’t enough students participating to affect the overall numbers, the report said.

“There is no behavior-intervention program that, in and of itself, will significantly impact your suspension problem,” Shorokey said.

Instead, he recommends a targeted case-management program that would serve 150 students, work for a longer time period, improve the relationship between the parents and the school, increase the student’s sense of hopefulness regarding school success, increase student attendance and increase the number of referrals of students to services that will help them.

Read more about the proposal in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.