State takeover of Youngstown City School District...

[iwasthere]

if the teachers live in the school district where they teach they will have a more voice on the Board of Education selection.

[AllanY2525]

I think that some of the teaching staff may actually be a little relieved that the state is taking
over, if for no other reason than some hope for change now.

[kenneyjoe330]

I am an old man  having rolled your eyes - please let me go on  in TODAY's World EVERYTHING changes so fast I can hardly keep up - in this forum of the printed WORD/WORDS it is important to have common definitions of these WORDS.  I am having trouble with the word "PARENT" that everyone seems to be using when talking about children.  The word "PARENT" to me 25 to 30 years ago was much different than it is today - in THOSE days it was usually used in the plural  and meant a biological connection  .  Today - on any given day in the obits you can find people leaving 'furry' children and grandchildren  - isn't that interesting.  I hope that everyone's definition of  PARENT is at the least the 'responsible person' for that child's well being ! ! !   I have heard that when the former Superintendent stated that parents may be the cause of some of the child's education and learning processes that he was "Parent Bashing" and he shouldn't do that  - of course he was probably told this by a few board members by people who voted for them to be on the board.  The ELECTED school board and the majority of those who voted for them time after time after time deserve what has transpired and I can see us leading the way to the NEW :::: KIDZ"R"CASH School System ::::  Dattle lern em good !

[Irishbobcat]

It's summer vacation for teachers....where were they? Sending out resumes? Not enough time to notify them or rally the troops? Where were the union leaders on this? They

couldn't gather any masses? Amazing!

[iwasthere]

I agree with Alan- To little to late.. Where the heck are all the parents/guardians  of these kids? They certainly weren't at the rally yesterday.. Dismal turnout for something so important. A problem we have in Youngstown, instead of fixing the problem right away, we wait until it gets bigger and bigger, then jump in and say "Hey this is a HUGE problem, you have to fix this"

where was the ytown boe members? only one was there and spoke a the rally. the lack of family participation is one of the main factors that the ytown cs is in this mess.

[iwasthere]

There are hundreds of teachers in the Youngstown School System.  Only a hand full of teachers actually turned out to express their views.

i myself was disappointed in the turnout for the rally. could it been the time of day that was at three pm. could a latter time in the day that could made it possiblefor more participants to part-take in this matter?

[jay]

There are hundreds of teachers in the Youngstown School System.  Only a handful of teachers actually turned out to express their views.

[Rushblvd]

I agree with Alan- To little to late.. Where the heck are all the parents/guardians  of these kids? They certainly weren't at the rally yesterday.. Dismal turnout for something so important. A problem we have in Youngstown, instead of fixing the problem right away, we wait until it gets bigger and bigger, then jump in and say "Hey this is a HUGE problem, you have to fix this"

[Youngstownshrimp]

The emperor has no clothes, we are Greece.  Most of Asia has superior schools than us and they pay their teachers an average of $7000 per year.  The government is broke.  We produce nothing mostly now in the USA. You all sound like Greece, the problem is we cannot afford our public school system period.

[AllanY2525]

I agree that educators need to make an income appropriate to their jobs,
go ahead and negotiate salary, benefits, healthcare, just like always.

Again I just wanna make clear that I am not in favor of charter schools.

Fix the public school system, pay a fair wage.  I'm all for that.  If the state
has to throw more money in to fix everything and eventually give it  back
the city when it is a quality, fully functional public institution again, so be it.

Whatever it takes.  Time for screwing around is over get it done.

[Irishbobcat]

A charter school in Cleveland pays only around $17,000.....

[iwasthere]

I'm not promoting the idea of turning the city schools in to charter schools, though... I still believe[/size]in a public school system,  and that it can still work when staffed with good teachers and administrativepeople.


the ysd has a solid base of grt teachers, support and administration staff but the ysd lacks total parent involvement with their offsprings. as i said before, "babies having babies is not a good formula for a successful,  productive and healthy lifestyle".

[iwasthere]

There is going to be an anti-takeover rally and march on Tuesday afternoon.

time and place?

[AllanY2525]

....just think of the teachers who will jump at the chance of teaching there for $19,000 a year...

Okay, so with the info that was provided below, we see that salaries in a charter school can vary
widely, and no concerete basis to assume that teachers would only make $19,000 a year if they
were to work (hypothetically) at a charter school in Youngstown.

I'm not promoting the idea of turning the city schools in to charter schools, though... I still believe
in a public school system,  and that it can still work when staffed with good teachers and administrative
people.

[AllanY2525]

I can't help but wonder where these rally(ERS) have been the last 12 years...when they
should have been rallying around saving the YCSD schools,  and the parents rallying around
the kids that attend them....

and before anyone says anything, YES, I know I'm waxing sarcastic here....why all of the outcry now,
when the city had so many years to fix the problem...they could have asked for help BEFORE it became
necessary for outside forces to step in.

They can rally all they want - too little, toooooo late.  Best they can hope for now is to work with
and through their legislators to modify the terms of the takeover to best benefit the kids.

After all, it IS about the kids, and giving them the BEST education possible, whatever it takes.
When the same actions keep producing the same results year after year after year, logic dictates that
it is clearly time to make some major changes in the way things are being done = AND BY WHOM
things are done.

The academic distress commission was the final warning, the "shot across the bow", which clearly sent the
message:  "TURN THIS SHIP AROUND AND FIX THIS OR WE WILL DO IT FOR YOU = AND TRUST US...
YOU ARE DEFINITELY *NOT* GONNA LIKE THE WAY *WE* WILL DO IT"

Youngstown has NO copyright, NO PATENT and NO TRADEMARK on inner city youth problems and the
disintegration of the American family unit that supports its own children.  The city should have been
looking at other cities with similar problems that are coming up with new and innovative approaches to
the same types of problems.   We live in a land where compulsory education IS THE LAW.  Good parents
or not, we are STILL obligated to try and get through to these kids and prepare them for life as adults.

IT'S A BIG COUNTRY...and there are a lot of very good educators and administrators out there facing the
same problems every single day all over the place.  What successes are they having?  Where?  Could some
of the programs and tactics being used in other urban school districts around the country be put to work in
Youngstown?  Could they be reaching out to teachers and administrators elsewhere who have been successful
in getting through to kids from troubled homes and talking to them about HOW they did it?

These are the hard questions that should have been asked long ago, before the situation in Youngstown
disintegrated into the cesspool it is today.  Instead of crying that there is a fox in their chicken coop,
they should have been taking better care of the little chicks.