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Wide variety of changes to greet Valley students
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Upgraded technology, new people and a new specialty school will greet Mahoning Valley students as they return to the classroom for the 2016-17 school year.
Struthers students in fifth through 12th grades will get Google Chromebooks to use at school and home. The governing structure of Youngstown City Schools is all new this year and a science, technology, engineering, mathematics academy for ninth- and 10th-graders opens inside Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
Elsewhere in the Valley, schools have new administrators and revamped curricula for the year. Boardman, West Branch and Brookfield each has a new superintendent: Tim Saxton, Tim Saxton (yes, there are two) and Velina Jo Taylor, respectively.
Struthers Superintendent Joseph Nohra said that district is implementing a one-device-to-one-student initiative for fifth- through 12th-graders this year. Each student will get a Google Chromebook to use both in school and at home throughout the school year.
For the last two years, Struthers has been preparing. Some of that prep work included training teachers.
“We don’t want teachers to just use them as email machines,” Nohra said. “We want them to incorporate them into their lessons.”
The idea is to enhance students’ and teachers’ access to educational resources available online or in a digital format.
“It will be easier for teachers to communicate with students at home,” Nohra said.
Kevin Stoklosa, Struthers’ schools information-technology administrator, worked last week, preparing the 1,600 laptops for students’ return.
Labels affixed to each device bear students’ names so they retain the same computer.
“They’ll have a chance to buy the laptop,” Stoklosa said. When that happens depends on whether the district adopts a three- or four-year cycle for upgrades.
Chromebooks also are new this year at Holy Family School in Poland and in Bristol, Champion and Lakeview districts.
While the Youngstown school board members retain their seats, they’re not in charge anymore. Through state legislation approved in 2015, a chief executive officer holds the power.
Krish Mohip, a Chicago native, was appointed to the CEO post by a new academic distress commission. He started June 29.
By early September, Mohip, with input from community stakeholders, must submit a strategic plan to the commission.
That plan will map out how he wants to rehabilitate the urban school district that’s lingered in the academic basement for several years. That work is ongoing, but Mohip is trying to foster a caring environment in the buildings.
“I want parents to know that when they send their children to school, they’ll be in a safe, nurturing environment,” he said.
Since his arrival, Mohip has been hearing from parents, students and teachers that they don’t want any more building alignments. The district has restructured buildings and grades several times.
None of that is happening, at least not this year.
The only change is offering some science, technology, engineering and mathematics and music introductory classes at East High School.
Valley STEM+ME2 Academy (offering science, technology, engineering and mathematics plus manufacturing and energy with an emphasis on entrepreneurship) opens Aug. 22 inside Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
“Students will have the opportunity to explore problem-based learning, driven by professionals in local and state industry, as well as real-world problems,” said Mara Banfield, the academy’s principal and curriculum and instruction director. “Students will be exposed to engineering and design, robotics, clean energy technology, manufacturing operations and computer science principles, integrated with traditional academic content areas. Students will be able to build prototypes of what they design and utilize trial and error in the design process.”
It’s the Valley’s first state-designated STEM school, and 90 freshmen and sophomore students from Mahoning County and surrounding areas have enrolled for its inaugural year.