Thursday, October 15, 2015
Last July, after Republican Gov. John Kasich signed one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the GOP-controlled General Assembly – it’s aimed at the academically challenged Youngstown City School District – we urged opponents to give up their quest to shelve the “Youngstown Plan” and to become part of the solution.
They didn’t. Instead, members of the school board and the district’s employee unions filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to block the plan from taking effect today.
On Tuesday, Judge Jenifer French dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs had not proved their claims. Thus, we again say to the opponents of what could well be Youngstown schools’ last chance for survival:
Stop fighting the inevitable, and join forces with Ohio Department of Education officials and other advocates to serve the best interests of the children of the shrinking, financially challenged urban school system.
Under the Youngstown Plan, a chief executive officer will be appointed by a newly minted academic distress commission to run the system. The CEO will have unfettered powers to reform the district with the goal of reversing its long-standing academic collapse.
In 2010, the state placed the district in academic emergency, which triggered a state statute that called for the appointment of an academic distress commission to take control. The effect was to marginalize the elected board of education.
In 2011, the designation was raised to academic watch – but not because of an improvement by students on the state proficiency tests.
Rather, there was an uptick in student attendance. Yes, absenteeism has been a long-standing problem in Youngstown.
But even the takeover by the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission has not brought the level of improvement Gov. Kasich has demanded since the day he took office in January 2011. Kasich, who is in the crowded field of candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has been adamant about saving the children of Youngstown from the cycle of academic failure. He publicly warned that the status quo was not acceptable and suggested the district’s continued failure would trigger drastic action.
DRASTIC ACTION NEEDED
The Youngstown Plan, which was developed by leaders of the Youngstown community, with technical and professional assistance and guidance from members of the Kasich administration and officials of the state education department, is the drastic action. It was laid out in an amendment to a bill that the governor signed into law in July – much to the displeasure of various groups that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and keeping the state at bay.
Despite the claims of opponents in their public comments, the legislative initiative is evidence of the Republicans’ hidden agenda to dismantle the public school system in Ohio. It is a much needed, timely response to failing school districts in Youngstown and other parts of the state.
Judge French’s decision gives hope to parents, guardians and children – none has existed for a long time – that education will finally become the top priority, just as it is in successful suburban districts.
Can anyone imagine adults and children in districts such as Canfield and Poland sitting quietly while academic failure became the norm? There would have been a citizens’ uprising in those communities. Why not in Youngstown? Why is there such a push back against a plan that puts the children first?
Although Judge French in Franklin County denied the plaintiffs’ motion for an injunction, thus opening the door for the Youngstown Plan to take effect, the detractors are not giving up their legal fight. That’s unfortunate.
This isn’t about who ultimately is in charge or who has the power. It is about making sure Youngstown’s children receive the sort of education that will prepare them for college or for the workplace. There are too many young people walking the streets of the city with no futures.