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Frustrations abound regarding process of dormitory planning
By Jessica hardin
youngstown
Former Youngstown Councilman Artis Gillam summed up community members’ reaction to the creation of a dormitory for at-risk youth when he said: “I don’t want anyone coming to my neighborhood without us knowing what’s going on.”
Judge Theresa Dellick of the Mahoning County Juvenile Court, Pastor Ken Donaldson of Rising Star Baptist Church, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Pastor Michael Harrison of Union Baptist Church announced plans for a new public dormitory behind Mahoning County High School during a news conference Friday at Rising Star.
The dormitory builds upon the model established by Mahoning County High School, which has graduated more than 300 students who had been expelled from other schools since opening in 2008, according to a release from the court.
But the proposal comes with a hefty price tag. Officials are currently considering seeking $12 million from public and private sources.
Marquell Armour, 20, a graduate, explained his path to the school and how the community supported him at critical junctures.
“It was like a family environment for me,” Armour said. He graduated as valedictorian.
Armour said that, in tutoring current students at the school, he hears that they wish they did not have to return home.
“I wish this would have been there for me,” Armour said.
While the event was billed as an unveiling, details were scarce.
In response to frustration with lack of community involvement, Pastor Donaldson and Judge Dellick assured those present that the proposed location has not been confirmed.
In a statement released after the meeting, city school board member Dario Hunter also objected to the committee’s process for soliciting community input.
“Judge Theresa Dellick seems to take the approach that people should have come to her to discuss the project,” said Hunter.
To community members who expressed frustration, Judge Dellick said that she would have clarified that the plan is not set in stone had she been invited to a Bryn Mawr Block Watch meeting.
Youngstown school board members voiced concerns about racial implications of the plan, which would primarily serve black students.
Before the meeting Friday, school board president Brenda Kimble said she’s leery the dormitory could become “part of the penal system,” and be offered as a casual alternative to juvenile incarceration.
School board member Jacqueline Adair took this perspective several steps further by comparing the plan to Native American reservations.
“The same thing happened to Native Americans. They were taken out of their communities and all of their culture was eradicated,” said Adair.
Judge Dellick opposed the paternalistic characterizations of the idea, saying, “This is not an orphanage.”
She mentioned similar models that have achieved success, such as the SEED Foundation in Washington, D.C.
“We’re not taking children out of their homes and saying, ‘We can do it better,’” Judge Dellick said.
The genesis of the idea was a Vindicator column by Bertram de Souza, titled “Y’town’s children must be saved” published April 1, 2018.
Citing SEED Public Charter School, de Souza proposed the creation of a boarding school for youth in Youngstown failed by the school system.