Youngstown City School District announced last week it will be merging two high schools and two middle schools into one facility each, joining a growing wave of other districts across Ohio in either considering or moving toward consolidation.
Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said Thursday the plan comes after years of enrollment declines for the district, and other challenges facing the district and city.
"We've been through a lot economically in this valley for the last 40 or so years," Batchelor explained. "We've been through a lot with declining population, industry changing, and then as a school district, we've gone through and taken our lumps with under-performance in the past and then fiscal issues. And with things changing the way they are right now, our population is not growing in this area."
The plan will involve closing Chaney Middle and Chaney High schools and sending students and staff to East High and East Middle schools, starting in the 2026-2027 school year. Batchelor said those two schools are newer and have more classroom space and better athletic facilities.
Batchelor said the district will be able to save money and expand its programming by shuttering the two school buildings. Students will benefit, he said.
"We'll be able to have strong academic programs. We'll able to create more (career) pathways," Batchelor said. "We have a great career and technical center here. All of our juniors and seniors are going to be able to choose one of those pathways or college credit plus (college classes for high schoolers) if that's what they want to do and they're qualified for that. But we want to make sure that all of students have a pathway: To either college or career or (military) enlistment when they're finished. And so we're really working hard on that and this is going to allow us to make that even stronger. "
Elsewhere across the Ohio and the region, Columbus, Medina and Ravenna schools have closed buildings and consolidated programming. The Lakewood and Cleveland school districts are both considering consolidating buildings as well, although no final decisions have been made yet. The districts point to rising costs, uncertain future federal and state funding and declining enrollment as major factors.
Batchelor acknowledged the move will place the district's only middle and high school on the city's east side, meaning longer travel time for some students. But at some point, the district hopes to bring back busing for high school students, which it cut in 2024.
He acknowledged another concern he's heard.
"We also have a problem in our entire city where sometimes we have some violence, and we have some times where people just aren't getting along," he said. "That's one of the things I've heard, where you're going to bring these schools together, and you're gonna have problems. Well, we already have problems, okay? And so we're not going to hide from that, but not bringing our students together is not going fix that. Bringing our students together actually may fix it."
Batchelor said consolidation could allow the district to free up resources for additional in-demand career training and apprenticeships, including adding an option to the district's popular cosmetology program which would allos students to graduate with a barber's license.
"This is a new day for Youngstown. It's an exciting day for Youngstown," he said. "Let's hope everybody will get behind it."
The district said Rayen Early College Middle School and Rayen Early College High School, along with Choffin Career and Technical Center, will remain open.
It's not clear if the district will pursue layoffs after the consolidation. A press release on Youngstown's website states "staffing during this phase will also be evaluated based on current district needs."
