Local NAACP chapter reluctantly endorses The Youngstown Plan

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown chapter of the NAACP does not generally support the state taking over the management and operations of school districts, but when it comes to fixing the Youngstown City Schools, such a move is necessary, the head of the local organization contends.

State intervention is needed to correct the district’s “17 years of failure,” George Freeman Jr., chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said during a news conference today at East High School on Bennington Avenue on the East Side.

Freeman was referring to House Bill 70, also known as The Youngstown Plan, which replaced the academic distress commission in place since 2010 with a five-member panel. The new commission is tasked with appointing a chief executive officer to operate and manage the schools. The commission hopes to have a CEO in place next month.

Also at the gathering were officials with the state and national NAACP chapters, along with local school board members.

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