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Conference honors Youngstown school parents
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
City school parents filled Stambaugh Auditorium’s ballroom for the district’s 10th Title I Parent Conference.
“We asked teachers to submit the names of parents who work with them,” said Linda Hoey, parent advocate coordinator.
The Friday event recognized 265 parents and family members.
“For the involvement of parents, that’s awesome,” Hoey said.
The district dubbed the 265 attendees Star Parents.
School district officials read the parents’ names, honoring them for their involvement with the schools and their children’s education.
Title I is a federal program that helps fund the education of economically disadvantaged children. The conference, titled “Working Together Works: Bridging the Gap Between Challenges and Success,” featured Jacqueline M. Gaither-Respress of Houston, an author and an educator, as guest speaker.
A New Castle, Pa., native, Gaither-Respress co-authored an academic night-school program that allowed students to graduate from high school. She also created and copyrighted Children of Promise, an educational program to motivate eighth-graders to achieve educational success.
In 2014, Youngstown State University awarded Gaither-Respress the Diversity Leadership recognition Aware for Community Leadership.
She was the first black woman to serve as principal of the combined New Castle Junior High School and Ben Franklin High School in the district’s 150 years.
The choirs of East High School and Williamson Elementary School entertained attendees.
Milton Walters, assistant superintendent for human resources, thanked parents for their role in making their children 21st century learners.
“Together we can achieve what today is limitless,” he said.