Special education making progress, Youngstown school officials say

YOUNGSTOWN — Despite criticism leveled during a recent school board meeting, district officials report special education is progressing in the Youngstown City Schools.

Lori Kopp, district chief of student services, said with the new Multi-Tiered Support System, problems are getting solved ahead of time or early on rather than later.

This system places a number of interventions and steps in place to help cut down on prematurely labeling students in need of special education.

“We were always putting out fires before,” Kopp said. “Now we are getting into the problem and helping by seeing what interventions are working and not working rather than putting a Band-Aid on it.”

Within each building are coordinators, supervisors and more who provide support to the teachers, students and staff helping special-education students.

“We have so many extra layers of support,” Kopp said. “It helps tremendously.”

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com