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Austintown schools join grant proposal with Youngstown City for manufacturing center
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown schools are joining together with Youngstown to research the feasibility of establishing a manufacturing center in the Mahoning Valley.
The Austintown Board of Education voted 4-0 — board member Harold Porter abstained — to participate in a grant proposal with Youngstown for the study.
In the resolution adopted by the board, Austintown schools support the grant application filed through the Local Government Innovation Fund through the Ohio Department of Development.
Superintendent Vincent Colaluca said the district was contacted about joining in the proposal and he was unaware if other school districts had joined Youngstown in the grant-proposal process.
According to Vindicator archives, Youngstown City Council approved a resolution Dec. 3 to have the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition seek a $50,000 state grant to find a downtown facility for the training center. A call to Jessica Borza, executive director of the MVMC, was not returned Wednesday.
In another matter, the board voted 4-1, with Porter casting the lone dissent, to continue open enrollment in the district.
Colaluca also talked about the use of HP Chromebooks in the school district. “We do need to get the rest of the Chromebooks distributed,” he noted. Joanie Jones, the seventh-grade principal at Austintown Middle School, said 350 students of AMS had not paid the insurance fee to use the laptops, and the school is “still [distributing] them by appointment.”
During the organizational meeting, Kathy Mock was re-elected board president and Dr. David Ritchie was elected vice president.
Jack Kidd, of the Fitch Class of 1962, thanked many who helped him and his classmates build two memorials for two of their fallen classmates.
There is a glass case in the lobby of Fitch High School honoring Army 2nd Lt. Charles “Chas” Brown and Marine Sgt. James “Jimmy” Prommersberger, who both died while serving during the Vietnam War.