YCSD launches new wellness initiatives, sells vacant building to save money

The Youngstown City School District is moving forward with several initiatives aimed at supporting students and families while saving the district money.

During Tuesday’s Board of Education committee meeting, Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor outlined plans that include expanding access to mental health and wellness services, connecting families to affordable health insurance, and selling unused property.

One proposal, presented by New Life Strategies, would place licensed mental health staff in schools to address issues such as anxiety, ADHD and family challenges directly in the classroom. Batchelor said while the program has not yet been approved, it fits into the district’s broader push to remove barriers to learning.

“Students need to be free to learn, teachers need to be free to teach,” Batchelor said. “In order for that to happen, we want to remove as many barriers as we can.”

The district is also partnering with Focus Care, an organization that helps families secure health insurance on a sliding scale, and is creating a student wellness fund to work with groups such as MYCAP and the YMCA. The fund will continue to support youth advocates, social workers, athletic trainers and other roles Batchelor says are key to student well-being.

“These are the things we’ve traditionally used wellness funds for, and we’ll continue to do that,” Batchelor said. “Everything we’re doing is aligned to the work we’ve already started.”

Board members also approved the sale of the long-vacant Mary Haddow School on Oak Street Extension to Zosky LLC, an Akron-based company. The building, once used for district record storage, has been empty for years and was costing the district nearly $1 million annually in upkeep, boarding and maintenance.

“It is a building that we no longer use… it is costing us more to keep it than we would like,” Batchelor said. “We can utilize those dollars for operation and maintenance in other ways to support our buildings and our grounds.”

Batchelor said while the buyer’s plans for the site have not been disclosed, any use would have to go through the city’s zoning process. He added that selling unused properties is part of the district’s effort to be “good neighbors” and responsible stewards of its resources.

“I feel really good about the work and how we’re governing ourselves in Youngstown City Schools,” Batchelor said.