Ohio
As last district remains in academic distress, debate continues on whether Ohio takeovers work
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Youngstown City School District, Ohio’s first and last district under state oversight, is seeking an exit ramp to local control.
The past 16 years of state oversight have taken the forms of academic distress commissions, CEOs and academic improvement plans.
While state oversight may have been well-intentioned, the results in Youngstown – and in Lorain and East Cleveland, which also were formerly under academic distress commissions – show that there may be no secret recipe that will turn around a struggling district.
Educators critical of state takeovers said school performance is affected by a host of variables, and what works for one might not work for another. But for almost every case, a specifically tailored plan requires monetary support.
Still others say that East Cleveland’s recent success of getting off academic distress, coupled with rising achievement Youngstown has made in recent years, are evidence that the Academic Distress Plan is working, and that state accountability is necessary.
Youngstown officials have pleaded their case to leave academic distress at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, but officials there say they must follow the law as it’s written.
Now the district is backing bills in the Ohio House and Senate that would dissolve the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission.
“To me, our body of work should stand for itself,” Youngstown Superintendent Jeremy J. Batchelor said. “We should not be the lone district in academic distress. In my opinion, we are no longer the lowest-performing school district in the state of Ohio. There was a time when we were and we are not anymore.”
Currently, Youngstown is trying to emerge from a three-year Academic Improvement Plan. While it’s on the plan, it gets a reprieve from some parts of state control: The locally elected school board takes power back from the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission, and the superintendent does the job of the CEO.
But the initial three years have passed, and Youngstown didn’t hit the necessary benchmarks in the last two of those years. State law allows the district to apply for two additional one-year extensions, and Youngstown has applied for its first extension this year. If it cannot pass the Academic Improvement Plan by the end of the 2026-2027 school year, the law states the academic distress commission and CEO again take over, which was unpopular locally.
In the Lorain City School District, the General Assembly dissolved its Academic Distress Commission in 2023 due to improved performance on the school report card.
East Cleveland met the benchmarks outlined in its Academic Improvement Plan, and announced on Dec. 24 it was no longer under state oversight.
These are some of the proposals education experts suggest for elevating struggling schools.
Proposal: Consult the community, provide resources
Critics of the state takeover in Youngstown point to problems under its oversight.
The Youngstown Academic Distress Commission closed a STEM School specializing in science, technology and math. The number of foreign language courses decreased.
Between 2016 and 2022, when Youngstown City Schools were run by a CEO, there was turnover, with two different people in that position. Changes brought by the CEOs resulted in higher turnover among faculty and staff.
Ohio Education Association President Jeff Wensing said that’s because when the state made changes, or appointed people to make changes, the local voice was lost. The community best understands its challenges. It can help diagnose and fix the problem, he said.
Wensing and state Sen. Nathan Manning, a North Ridgeville Republican instrumental in getting Lorain off academic distress, don’t believe in heavy-handed mandates from above.
“Bring resources and be there to lift up a community and not force things on them,” Manning said.
“Quite honestly, there is really no simple solution,” Wensing said. “There’s no magic wand that can be waved.”
That’s because each community is different.
Although no longer under academic distress, Lorain Superintendent Jeff Graham said that the state could have helped the district with its high rate of chronic absenteeism, which occurs when students miss at least 10% of school.
Some Lorain students missed 40 days in a year. Twenty percent of Lorain families have no vehicle and 25% have one family vehicle. Low attendance hurts achievement, Graham said.
Forty-four percent of the district is of Hispanic heritage. The current immigration environment where people fear they could be stopped by federal authorities based on race, ethnicity or their speaking Spanish is keeping many parents and children away from school, he said.
“Our kids are scared to death,” Graham said.
Wensing suggested that student support outside of academics may help some struggling districts.
Low-income districts have students who arrive at school hungry, which may be exacerbated by the coming reductions in SNAP benefits in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Students may have mental health challenges, or have poor vision and need eyeglasses.
“These are called wraparound services,” Wensing said. “You have to meet the needs of the person first before you can address the academic needs.”
The state never offered Youngstown, East Cleveland or Lorain any extra money for student services when academic distress commissions took over.
Yet Youngstown made gains in the Performance Index, a measure in the state report card that gauges student achievement in grades 3 through high school.
In 2024-2025, Youngstown scored 57.6, the same as East Cleveland. The highest achievable score was 109.8. For comparison, Lorain’s performance index was 53.1, the lowest in the state. Seven other school districts were lower than East Cleveland and Youngstown.
The wealthiest school districts performed best on the school report cards, according to a cleveland.com analysis of incomes and report card scores. The poorest tend to do the worst.
This has long been the case, said Wensing.
“When you look at these standardized test scores, you tell me the scores, you tell me the economic status of that community,” he said.
Proposal: Building-level oversight
In Youngstown, Superintendent Batchelor said that instead of state oversight, he supports a plan in Senate Bill 322, which would dissolve the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission and end the Academic Improvement Plan.
In its place, SB 322 would require student support teams in buildings that received one or two stars on the Ohio School Report Card. The support teams would be made up of the superintendent, school board members, classroom and special education teachers, school improvement specialists, intervention specialists, parents, representatives from DEW, among others.
The team would survey the school community and others such as attendance officers, develop a plan, with the school board’s approval. The school would have to follow the plan until the building gets 3 stars or higher.
SB 322 is sponsored by state Sen. Al Cutrona, a Mahoning County Republican, who said that he doesn’t think the state should take over any district, that education improvement should stay local and that paying high salaries for CEOs is wasteful when the money should have been poured into classrooms.
“I think it’s essential that we stick with local control,” he said. “I think the local people know best how to handle their schools. We’ve seen dramatic improvement in Youngstown. Youngstown City Schools have dramatically improved from the time that I’ve been in the legislature. These last report cards that came out were incredible. I think the schools should be applauded for their efforts, and their progress in the right direction.”
In the House, House Bill 610 would also dissolve the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission and repeal the law that created academic distress commissions and CEOs. It’s sponsored by Democratic Reps. Juanita Brent of Cleveland and Lauren McNally of Youngstown.
Proposal: Stay the course
An example of improvement in Youngstown is the graduation rate.
In the class of 2025, Youngstown’s high school graduation rate was 86.4%. That’s up from 79.4% in the class of 2018.
Batchelor said this was achieved through focusing on post-graduation pathways – encouraging students to choose college, gain a technical skill or join the military – and ensuring they had the right classes for their path, starting in the ninth grade.
Yet this improvement hasn’t been enough under the state takeover. Youngstown has not met the graduation rate benchmark in its Academic Improvement Plan for the four-year graduation rate.
-For the class of 2023, the graduation rate was supposed to be 90%. Youngstown’s rate was 84.3%.
-In 2024, it was supposed to be 91.5%. Youngstown achieved 85.9%.
-Last year, it was supposed to be 93%. Its weighted rate was 86.4%.
These gains show that Youngstown’s Academic Improvement Plan is working, even if the district isn’t hitting the benchmarks, said Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Churchill disagrees with Youngstown officials’ push to get off academic distress. The district should stay the course and work harder on its Academic Improvement Plan, he said.
“Our students in every part of the state deserve a great education,” he said. “They deserve an education where they can graduate high school proficient in math and reading. And right now that is not happening in some of the districts in our state. I think that additional pressure from the state and oversight from the state can really help make sure students are getting what they deserve.”
The Youngstown Academic Improvement Plan contains 24 benchmarks – the four-year graduation rate and Performance Index are just two of them. The district needs to hit 51% of the benchmarks each year to get out of academic distress.
“The disconnect here is there’s a three-year plan, and every year the benchmarks actually increase,” Batchelor said. “I’m so proud of East Cleveland that they did what they needed to do, but none of us had the same plan. Everybody was able to write their own plan with different benchmarks. And then they had to be approved by the state.”
Youngstown met enough benchmarks in 2022-2023, when hit 16. It did not in 2023-2024, when it met nine. In 2024-2025, it met six.
“I think when 20% to 30% of your students are meeting state reading and math standards, like what’s happening in Youngstown and a couple other districts around the state that have had academic challenges, I think there does need to be some state action in those situations,” Churchill said.
Those are scores the district submitted last school year to the state to update the status of its Academic Improvement Plan.
For example, the benchmark for third grade English on Ohio’s State Tests last year was 46% of the students scoring proficient or above last year. Just 34% were proficient in Youngstown.
For the benchmark for grades 3-5 math scores on the state tests, 33% were supposed to be at least proficient. But just 22.61% were.
“Every student in Youngstown has the ability to meet state standards, math and reading standards,” Churchill said. “We need to make sure that they have the education that helps them get there.”
Fans got their first glimpse of the 2026-2027 Buckeyes during their spring game earlier today. In contrast to last year’s offensive takeover, it was the defense this year that shined for the most part.
With this, we still saw plenty of Buckeyes that proved that they are ready to play, and ready to play now. Here are three standouts from the Ohio State Spring Game.
Chris Henry Jr.
Coming into the game, most Ohio State fans had already penciled Chris Henry Jr., the No. 1 WR in the 2026 class according to ESPN, as the successor to Carnell Tate in the Buckeye offense.
Anyone that didn’t, probably should now.
The freshman wideout hauled in 4 passes for 96 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Playing all snaps on the outside, Henry Jr. looked very poised, showcasing smooth route running and breakaway speed. The connection between him and another Buckeye on this list was the highlight of the offense for the day. There is no doubt he should be an immediate contributor in this Ohio State offense.
Tavien St. Clair
After a subpar showing at the spring game last year, Tavien St. Clair showed flashes of the top-10 recruit he was just two years ago.
He dazzled early with two big completions to Chris Henry Jr., showing off his big arm in the process.
His touchdown pass to Henry Jr. was a beautiful look off from St. Clair, who launched it right to the right pylon to find the freshman wideout.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for St. Clair on the day though, as he was forced into a couple three-and-outs as well as a few balls that could have been intercepted.
All in all, all tools are there for St. Clair to be great when his number is called, and another year of growth under Julian Sayin should help him get there.
Beau Atkinson
Buckeye fans were surprised when Beau Atkinson was basically a non-factor on the defensive line a season ago, as the hype around him coming from North Carolina was immense.
The player they expected to see last year was on full display, as the senior finished the day with a sack and an interception off a Julian Sayin batted ball at the line of scrimmage.
His high motor was one to watch early, as his get-off and confidence at the position looked vastly improved from last year. He is one to seriously watch to be the starter next to Kenyatta Jackson Jr. come September.
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A vulnerable woman, suffering from multiple health conditions and alcohol-related dementia, was “dumped” at a homeless shelter by an Ohio nursing home, prompting staff to call the fire department.
The woman, who was diabetic, managing a tibia fracture, and incontinent, arrived at the shelter carrying “a large bag of medications.”
Federal inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) documented the incident following an August 3, 2023, inspection, noting the woman was “unclear of what was going on, scared, and not sure who dropped her off there.”
The Eastland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Columbus had involuntarily discharged the woman after she was caught drinking beer at the facility. While staff reportedly sought a substance abuse rehabilitation bed, none were immediately available.
Eastland staff failed to contact the county’s psychiatric bed board for alternative placement before taking her to the shelter, where she faced a waiting list of about 100 people.
The incident highlights a disturbing trend, described by industry experts as rare but increasingly common, where nursing homes transfer medically fragile patients to homeless shelters. CMS, which funds most nursing home care in the U.S., has previously faulted Eastland and six other facilities for similar discharge practices in recent years.
The shelter at first declined to admit the woman, leaving her outside in the late-summer heat. Staff eventually relented, letting her sit in the lobby with a glass of cold water while they summoned a city rapid response team, including the fire department and a social worker.
Neither Eastland nor the CMS inspectors could locate the woman by the time the report was published.
“In addition, the events of what occurred at the addiction recovery center or how/why Resident #83 ended up at the homeless shelter … could not be determined as the facility was unable to provide any additional information regarding Resident #83,” the inspection report says.
The administrator at Eastland declined to return phone calls about the inspection. Facility staff declined to provide contact information for Garden Healthcare, the corporate owner of the nursing home, which operates five other facilities, according to CMS data. It doesn’t publish any contact information online.
Most of the patients in these situations are older, homeless, unemployed and lack support networks of family or friends that might be checking in on them, according to Chip Wilkins, who leads the city of Dayton’s Long Term Care Ombudsman program, which acts as a legal advocate for long term care patients.
“We are starting to deal with it more and more. The facilities are so closely monitored on discharges, but yet they still try and send them to hospitals and not take them back. Or drop them off at homeless shelters,” he said in an interview.
“I would say certainly over the last six months there has been an uptick.”
Leilani Pelletier, the statewide ombudsman, said she didn’t have ready access to data that could confirm whether the discharges to homeless shelters have increased in frequency statewide.
But health care is as subject to macroeconomic forces like inflation as other sectors of the economy. And Medicaid, which pays for most nursing care, is under increasing cost pressure as federal lawmakers have reduced program funds.
The challenges nursing facilities in Ohio are facing reflect a broader and concerning trend affecting facilities across the country, said Scott Wiley in a statement, CEO of the Ohio Health Care Association, an industry trade group.
“This issue has been growing as more residents face unstable housing,” he said. “State oversight and resources are needed to help tackle the issue on a larger scale to find meaningful, long-term solutions for Ohioans who struggle with homelessness. It will require a collaborative approach that a single nursing facility provider is not equipped to manage on their own.”
The state ombudsman’s office gets copies of every involuntary discharge from a nursing home in Ohio. One of the first things they check, Wilkins said, is the proposed discharge location.
Homeless shelter discharges are priority cases because they’re almost always unsafe, he said. They can’t manage the 10 to 20 medications they might need daily. Some rely on wheelchairs or walkers.
“Invariably, that ends up being a horrible experience for the individual because they’ll go to the shelter, and typically, within two to three days, the shelter will send them to the hospital because they can’t meet their needs,” Wilkins said.
Often, the issues trace back to insurers, including Medicaid and Medicare, that cut off residents’ benefits. Sometimes the facilities cite aggressive behavior or substance use.
Homeless shelters aren’t built to handle medically fragile patients. They aren’t medical centers. Some may require residents to climb to a top bunk, a tall task for older patients.
Marcus Roth, director of communications of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said the practice puts the shelters in a tight spot. They’re tending to a population they’re not equipped to handle, but they’re also the de facto safety net.
“The emergency shelter system, to the extent we have a system, is often the only thing available when other interventions don’t work,” he said.
Pelletier emphasized in an interview that such involuntary discharges to shelters against residents’ wishes are rare. That said, she estimated about 13,000 Ohioans are discharged from a nursing home each month.
Nursing homes, she said, have legal obligations to make sure that discharges are “safe and appropriate.” And it’s not up to the facilities, she said, to unilaterally decide where a person should go.
Whether a shelter is “safe and appropriate” is a fact-specific question. Pelletier said there are instances where it could be, pending the care needs of the resident and abilities of the shelter. It’s the kind of thing that ombudsmen hone in on when reviewing discharges.
“The real issue is when people are discharged to a homeless shelter and there’s been no work or investigation done on if that would be a safe or appropriate discharge,” she said.
It didn’t matter that its patient was diabetic and struggled to manage his blood sugar. Neither did his history of glaucoma, cataracts, or suspected autism, or his 22 years of residency at the nursing home.
What mattered is that his insurance stopped paying, and the Laurels of Hillsboro wanted him out, according to a Dec. 29, 2025 CMS inspection of the facility. The facility was sold in July 2025 and rebranded to Hillsboro Health and Rehab, but state and federal records reflect the previous name.
The man told CMS inspectors in an interview that nursing home staff never told him he was being taken to a homeless shelter.
Federal law says nursing home residents must be given at least 30 days’ notice before a discharge, barring health and safety emergencies. But the patient at Hillsboro, who isn’t identified in the investigation, wasn’t given any. According to his former roommate, facility staff misrepresented the discharge, claiming he’d be going to an assisted living apartment as opposed to an emergency shelter that would only house him for up to 90 days.
The man wasn’t taught to manage his medications and showed up at the shelter without any needles to use. He struggled to see with his cataracts. He had no driver’s license, birth certificate or other documents he would need to get a job, income or housing.
“I can’t believe they would do someone dirty like that,” the patient’s roommate said to CMS inspectors.
Hillsboro, via a receptionist who declined to provide her name over the phone, declined to comment but said the facility is now in “substantial compliance” with the state.
In some of the facilities cited by CMS, the providers allegedly failed to ensure patients got their medications as they were discharged to homeless shelters. And some failed to provide patients their 30 days of notice before an involuntary discharge.
Meadowbrook Manor, in Trumbull County, sought to discharge a patient with an array of long-term illnesses and a history of substance use and homelessness, according to a July 8 inspection. He was given a 30-day discharge notice, but was sent to a shelter 20 days later regardless.
He was given two weeks’ worth of medications, but no prescriptions, medical appointments or care plan. The shelter staff identified a “mismatch” given the man had trouble walking and couldn’t climb a ladder to reach a top bunk, as the facility requires.
Meadowbrook staff refused to take him back.
At New Lebanon Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, a woman’s insurer sent her a termination letter for her treatment for a series of neural and spinal disorders, plus depression and arthritis.
While she was entitled to 30 days’ notice, the facility gave her roughly 24 hours before discharging her to a homeless shelter. The facility’s social services director said he didn’t know where the woman actually went, only that a friend picked her up.
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Friday, April 17, 2026 | 7:01 PM
Central Catholic lineman Jimmy Kalis warms up before the Vikings’ game against Pine-Richland on Aug. 29, 2025, at CMU. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)
Central Catholic’s Jimmy Kalis blocks as Chrys Black carries through the Harrisburg defense during their PIAA Class 6A state semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, at Mansion Park in Altoona. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)
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Jimmy Kalis will play his college football at Ohio State.
Central Catholic’s 6-foot-8, 285-pound star lineman, surrounded by family, friends and other supporters, gave a verbal commitment to the Buckeyes live on Rivals’ YouTube channel Friday evening.
He thanked many of the people who supported him along his journey, including teammates and coaches.
“I want to thank all of the schools that gave me a chance and believed in me,” Kalis said. “I am really thankful and blessed for all these opportunities I got.”
The soon-to-be senior chose Ohio State over a group of five other finalists that included Georgia, Texas, Clemson, Miami and LSU.
Kalis, a Rivals 4-star offensive tackle, collected more than 40 Power Four scholarship offers with Alabama, Cal, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, Tennessee, Washington, WVU and Wisconsin among the others.
He is the No. 234 overall prospect and No. 21 offensive tackle in the Class of 2027, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.
Kalis went through an extensive recruiting process that included visits to several of the top schools on his list.
In an interview with Rivals in February, Kalis said Ohio State was “very high on my list because they have been there and been very consistent since Day 1. They develop OL at a high level and have an elite culture and they take pride in getting guys to the next level.”
Kalis was part of a powerful Central Catholic offensive line in 2025 that helped the Vikings rack up 40.8 points per game.
Central Catholic went undefeated in Class 6A, finished 13-2 overall, defeated North Allegheny, 42-7, for the WPIAL title and advanced to the PIAA championship game before falling to La Salle College.
Kalis’ efforts were celebrated with numerous all-star honors including an all-conference second-team nod.
“It’s been an awesome ride watching Jimmy grow and mature,” Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier said. “He’s earned this opportunity. He’s played really well throughout his career with us. He’s a great kid who is so focused on what he wants, and he’s worked so hard towards that. He’s been a delight to coach, and I hope all of our kids are able to reach their max potential. For guys like Jimmy to have this opportunity, I couldn’t be more happy for him.”
Kalis has had a strong support system, and throughout the recruiting process, he leaned on the experience of both his father, Todd, and older brother, Kyle.
Todd Kalis, a Minnesota native, attended Division I Arizona State as a 6-6, 300-pound guard and was selected by the Vikings in the fourth round of the 1988 NFL Draft. He played for the Vikings, Steelers and Bengals over his eight-year NFL career.
Kyle Kalis, recruited by Michigan out of St. Edward High School in suburban Cleveland, got an opportunity as a lineman (6-4, 305) in the NFL with Washington, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Oakland from 2017-2020.
Jimmy’s mother, Kristen, was a former college basketball player. She is 6-1.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Central Catholic
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