Youngstown school board hears gripes about East High

By Denise Dick | February 24, 2016 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

People packed into the city school board meeting, many to air their concerns about East High School.

But they had to wait more than two hours to be heard. The board heard presentations about the district’s textbook shortage, special education, suspensions and progress at Discovery at Kirkmere and Martin Luther King Elementary School before the portion of the meeting agenda reserved for citizen participation.

Then the board went into executive session for collective bargaining.

When the board emerged a short time later, East High student Taia Wright, backed by two of her classmates, was the first to speak.

“The main point of us coming here is that we don’t feel we have voices to speak for ourselves,” Taia told board members.

Rather than teachers and administrators telling the board about what’s happening at the school, the students should be able to speak about what they think is right for them, she said.

After the students finished, Keland Logan spoke, noting that only one school board member took notes while the young people were talking.

It’s part of having an actively engaged community, he said.

Donald Wright, Taia’s father, said that while the district has since hired two new math teachers, East went its first quarter without having enough math teachers for the classes.

Students are getting ready to take state tests, Wright said.

“How are you getting them prepared?” he asked.

Wright said his daughter knows that it’s unacceptable for her to bring home any grade lower than a “B.” He holds her accountable and she earns “A’s” and “B’s,” he said.

“How do we keep a school board accountable for a job that they’re not doing?” Wright asked.

Wanda Coleman also has a child at East and is upset that students went part of the year without enough math teachers.

The district spends more than $16,000 per year per student, she added.

“There’s no reason for them to be lacking anything,” Coleman said. “It [costs] more to graduate from East than to graduate from college.”

Jimma McWilson, who represents the Youngstown Chapter of the NAACP, said it’s the parents’ role to hold the school board accountable. The NAACP views the problems at East as a civil-rights issue, McWilson said.

He requested a special school board meeting at East to talk about the problems and the failures at the school.

“East is in a trauma situation,” McWilson said. “It needs a trauma team. You are to be that trauma team.”

It’s board policy not to answer questions from the public during regular meetings, but board President Brenda Kimble said people’s questions would be answered either in writing or by phone.

After the meeting, Kimble said the full board needs to discuss McWilson’s request for a special meeting about East. She couldn’t say when that discussion might occur.

In other business, the board also approved a recommendation from interim Superintendent Stephen Stohla for a teacher retirement bonus for this school year. The bonus allows teachers to earn up to $10,000, and 14 teachers are eligible. The provision, agreed to by the teachers union, allows the district to waive the salary placement limitations, allowing the board to offer recruitment incentives to entice new teachers to come to the school district.