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City schools address highlights success
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Superintendent Connie Hathorn’s vision for the city schools is to continue to improve student achievement.
That’s the message of his State of the District Address. The event, which is open to the public, begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a reception including hors d’oeuvres followed by the address at 7 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Banquet Hall, Via Mount Carmel. Doors open at 6:15.
“We’re continuing to move the needle,” Hathorn said. “We will continue to make progress.”
He acknowledged that he’s not satisfied with the speed of the progress, pointing to the district’s most recent report card of all D’s and F’s.
“You have to look at the performance index,” Hathorn said. “We are making progress.”
The performance index is the measure of student performance on the Ohio Graduation Test and Ohio Achievement Assessment.
The district’s performance index score rose from 76.9 on the 2012-13 report card to 77.7 on the 2013-14 report, the most recent. The score has been increasing since 2010-11.
Each of the three district high schools, however, saw its performance index scores decline on the most recent report card.
Hathorn’s address will cover the status of the district including its successes, his goals and how he intends to achieve them.
The theme is “Our Successes ... Look at What Your Children are Doing.”
“I want people to know that we’re not going to keep changing plans,” he said. “We have a plan in place, and we have to give it time to work.”
There was a trend in the past within the district to abandon strategies if results weren’t realized immediately in favor of something else, he said. That’s something that was noted by members of the Youngstown School District Academic Distress Commission, too.
The panel was created in 2010 when the school district failed to meet adequate yearly progress for four years and was designated in academic emergency. The state superintendent of public instruction appoints three members to the five-member commission, while the school board president appoints the other two members.
The commission oversees district academics and develops a plan, which is updated annually, designed to guide the district out of its academic challenges.
Youngstown was the first district in the state for which an academic distress commission was created. The only other district in the state with such a panel in place is Lorain.
The address will be moderated by Sarah Brown-Clark, clerk of Youngstown Municipal Court. Other community dignitaries are expected to attend, and students will be featured as part of the evening. The Williamson Elementary School choir also will perform.
The Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods is a partner in the event presentation.