Attendance foremost on Youngstown's academic distress commission's agenda

YOUNGSTOWN

Members of the Youngstown School District Academic Distress Commission want additional staffing in place next year to address student attendance.

“We don’t want to be at this same place next year as this year with attendance,” the Rev. Kenneth Simon, commission member, said at a meeting Thursday. “We have to sort of address that as if the house is on fire.”

It’s a big enough problem to make budgetary adjustments to address, he said.

Of the district’s 16 schools, including Mahoning County High School, only five have met student attendance goals from the Academic Recovery Plan so far this year.

Those five are Discovery at Kirkmere, Rayen Early College Middle School, Chaney Campus, Youngstown Early College and Wilson Programs of Promise.

The Academic Recovery Plan is the improvement plan devised by the commission and approved by the state superintendent to guide the district out of academic difficulty.

Read more about the attendance situation and a resignation from the commission in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.