Expanded access to Akron’s community learning centers, more pre-Kindergarten availability and improved relationships with the city’s higher education institutions are among the priorities of new Mayor Shammas Malik, Akron Education and Health Strategist Richelle Wardell said last month.
Wardell, speaking at an Akron Community Foundation event on Jan. 31, laid out the projects Malik hopes to make progress on, saying education professionals “have a friend at City Hall.”
“We’re bringing together initiatives that have been brewing in silos,” she said. “We can create a future where the whole community thrives.”
Better access to community learning centers
Members of the Akron Board of Education have been discussing issues with community access to the city’s CLCs. Wardell said the city is working closely with the Youth Success Summit as well as with representatives from the school district and the city’s Recreation & Parks Department to make it easier for people to get into the buildings after school hours.
Insurance and staffing concerns are among the issues still being worked out, but Wardell said in an interview that conversations are underway to make the CLCs more of the community hubs they were intended to be.
“The feedback from the community is that accessing them in the evening is not a simple task,” she said.
That doesn’t fulfill the promise of the buildings, which were intended to be used for adult education, health services, legal clinics and other community activities.
“We want to fulfill the promise of the CLCs, transforming them into the vibrant neighborhood hubs they were intended to be,” she said.
More pre-K options
Malik expressed his support at a school board retreat last month for expanding pre-Kindergarten in the city. Universal pre-K is part of the new strategic plan for the district, with Superintendent Michael Robinson calling himself a “very big proponent” of enhanced early education.
Wardell said the mayor understands that expanding pre-K can have a lot of positive impact in the city — it can address potential job constraints for parents, and it can help ensure an educated workforce for the future.
There are a number of different funding possibilities for a pre-K program, Wardell said, and government officials don’t yet know if they would look at a city, county or private funding model or some combination to pay for more preschool.
She said all other major Ohio cities have already expanded their early education options — using different methods — and “we’re learning from them.”
“The mission is to provide better access to quality preschool,” she said.
The initiative also has the support of the Greater Akron Chamber and United Way of Summit & Medina counties, among other organizations.
Making use of Stark State, University of Akron
The plan for improving collaboration with the University of Akron and Stark State College Akron is less clear, Wardell said, but Malik recognizes the need to engage with both institutions as part of his economic development strategy.
She said strengthening the city’s ties with both institutions can boost economic growth, as can helping make a seamless path to college for students from local high schools.
“It’s really about growing the relationship,” Wardell said. “The mayor acknowledges the economic value those institutions bring.”
She added that it’s important for the city to work with both the University of Akron and Stark State to ensure that each succeeds.
As an example, she cited the Center for Structured Literacy, a University of Akron initiative that will focus on the science of reading. At the same Akron Community Foundation event, Rebecca Tolson, the center’s director, said the program will roll out later this year.
Wardell said the rollout of a different reading curriculum with teachers who are trained in the science of reading could help with early literacy as well and could be tied to the pre-K focus.
Improving Akron graduation rates
The Akron Community Foundation event also included Rachel Tecca, the executive director of the Youth Success Summit, and Marcie Ebright, director of the College and Career Academies for Akron Public Schools.
Tecca’s organization is involved in the city’s CLC initiative, and she said the group will launch in July with a focus on providing after-school and summer activities for students. Tecca said she wants to ensure there are equitable experiences for youth across the community.
And Ebright, with APS, said the district is close to expanding the academy model into its elementary schools, letting students begin to explore real-world interests outside the classroom. When it does so, she said, it will be the only K-12 school district in the country with that focus.
She also lauded rising graduation rates for high school students, saying she expected them to reach 89% for 2023, once all data was collected. They were 86.1% in 2022.
“We’re graduating more students than ever before that are better prepared for life beyond high school,” Ebright said.
The efforts all align with the city’s vision for progress, Wardell said.
“We’re all working on the same thing in this community,” she said. “What the mayor wants to see is that everyone is at the table.”