Youngstown schools parents, teachers honored for involvement

By JUSTIN DENNIS

jdennis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

More than 450 parents of Youngstown City Schools students and 300 teachers were honored Friday evening for taking an active role in those children’s education.

The district’s 13th annual Title I Parent Conference Friday at Stambaugh Auditorium celebrated the positive relationships parents have with the district. Teachers chose parent award nominees and vice versa, said Linda Hoey, the district’s chief of family engagement.

“A lot of parents here are parents that volunteer, that are communicating on a regular with the teacher to help to bring their children to their academic excellence,” she said. “When the teacher calls with any type of issue or concern or help they might need, they can call these parents and parents help and work with them.”

Erica Lewis of Youngstown, whose 4-year-old twins and 5-year-old enrolled at Kirkmere Elementary’s preschool this year, is one of those parents who’s always on-hand for a field trip, she said.

“I think my parents were always involved in my schooling,” she said. “I always wanted to be involved, to know what they were learning and what was going on and always be hands-on with them. I started volunteering for every single thing I could.

“I think it’s rewarding. I’m very pleased by the way they run their program — how organized it is and how much they’ve learned,” she said.

Similarly, nominated teachers are the ones who reach out to parents with positive news about their student, or to offer advice on their development or help them navigate the educational system, Hoey said.

The hundreds of nominees also act as hard data when the district reports the outcomes of its engagement programs, she said.

That level of engagement has grown each year, said district CEO Krish Mohip, who was one of several speakers during the Friday event. For events like Friday’s, the district might have seen 100 to 200 parents show, now it’s usually 700 to 800, he said.

“Parent meetings would, before, get one or two parents. Now I’m getting 50 to 60, sometimes in the hundreds,” he told The Vindicator. “And that’s making an impact. I can’t tell you exactly what it’s doing for student data, but you look at what we’re doing — we’re seeing improvements across the board in all subject areas.”

Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said parent-teacher engagement is “the key to success” for the district. He remarked during Friday’s program about different parenting styles and how parents can “learn from one another.”

“When I grew up, that was the bigger difference — parents were engaged. That helped a lot,” he said. “Most parents knew the kids, the kids knew the parents. We were all from the same neighborhood but there was a connection between the teacher as well as the parents.”

Kendra Allen, whose 12-year-old attends Harding Elementary and whose 15-year-old is at Rayen Early College, has been nominated for the parents award each year. Her mother Geraldine Allen, a former Harding staffer and PTA member, was also nominated.

“They know I’m a phone call away,” Kendra said. “Just as it’s important for the teacher to teach my child, it’s just as important for me to teach my child at home — to make sure they come to school and do what they need to do to make it a little easier on the teacher.”