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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Students across Cleveland will be swept into the school district’s largest consolidation in decades — and families, educators and even veteran city councilmen are left “gobsmacked” as they wrap their heads these changes and what they mean for the community. The proposal unveiled Wednesday night would leave Cleveland Metropolitan School District operating 29 less schools next year and impact about two-thirds of the district’s 88 schools. Few know the school system as well as Cleveland Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski, but even she was overwhelmed when she saw district CEO Warren Morgan’s plan all at once. “If someone like me, who kind of understands what’s in the weeds and how it works around here is overwhelmed — someone who isn’t in the know had to be completed gobsmacked,” Obrenski said. Obrenski said the devil is in the details – the plan does not specify, for example, what CMSD will do with the 18 buildings it closes or whether kids’ start times at merged schools will be at 7:20 in the morning, 9:20 or sometime in between. With the school board expecting to vote on the plan Dec. 9, there’s little time to explore those details, convene with parents and present any issues to CMSD’s leadership to ask for changes. And as City Council President Blaine Griffin points out, the impacts of school closures aren’t just an issue for students, they’re an issue for everyone. “The impact is huge,” Griffin said. “It’s not just about the schools and education. It’s about neighborhood stability.” CMSD’s consolidation isn’t a shocker. But Wednesday night’s board meeting was the first time Morgan and school district staff identified specific buildings on the chopping block and unveiled a full proposed consolidation. That plan would save CMSD $30 million each year and help reduce the $150 million deficit the school district faces. That’s key if the school district is going to save off financial instability that, left unchecked, would allow state officials to take over the school district’s finances, Morgan said. The plan significantly shrinks CMSD’s physical footprint. The district will go from 61 PreK–8 schools to 45, and from 27 high schools to 14. Amid the consolidation, 18 CMSD-owned buildings will be closed, and five leased spaces currently used as schools will also be phased out. In some cases, students won’t change buildings. Several Cleveland high schools like John Hay and John Marshall contain several different “schools” on one campus, each with its own administration, which will be condensed. Savings would mostly come from the district cutting administrative staff, including principals and assistant principals. Morgan told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that the number of teachers should stay roughly the same. Mayor Justin Bibb, backed by Morgan and clergy members from across Cleveland, backed the plan during a press conference Thursday. Bibb pointed to CMSD’s enrollment, which has dropped from 70,000 students in 2000 to 34,000 today. And he pointed to uneven outcomes among students. Morgan said CMSD has “pockets of excellence.” But while great academic programs and extracurriculars exist in Cleveland, they are not evenly distributed. He said consolidation is key to providing a better education for all students. Bibb agreed, saying change is hard but worth it. “Our children are suffering as a result of us not having the political courage to make hard decisions about the future of this district,” Bibb said. Both Bibb and Morgan acknowledge that selling this consolidation will be a political campaign, and that they need to make the case to stakeholders across town. Most people agree with CMSD’s goals. But Obrenski argues that parents are not being given enough time to give feedback. Especially since CMSD needs a decision soon, because implementing these changes takes time. Morgan told cleveland.com that school district officials have done public engagement for over a year. And he’s committed to a slew of meetings with parents and other stakeholders to support them through these changes. However, Obrenski said parents needed to know what schools were at risk of closing and merging to give real feedback. Should the whole plan have been unveiled sooner? Maybe not. But parents could have been given notice that their schools were on the chopping block. “I haven’t gotten the sense that the district is necessarily looking for meaningful feedback,” Obrenski said. She added that CMSD’s goals are well-intentioned and consolidation is needed, but not everyone will agree on the path district officials decided to take to reach those goals. Officials told cleveland.com they are still absorbing the proposal in its entirety, but some issues have already becoming clear. One merger that raised eyebrows is between Valley View Boy’s Leadership Academy and Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy. The two all-boys schools will merge and relocate to the Mary Bethune building — which means west side students will have to travel across town for an all-boys school option. The plan also calls for Collinwood High School to merge with Glenville High School. Councilmen Kevin Conwell and Mike Polensek, who represent Glenville and Collinwood, have been sounding alarms about this merger for a long time. Many saw it coming because of both schools’ low enrollment. But Conwell points out that neither high school had good extracurricular programs — something he and Polensek had been “screaming from the rooftops” about. No programs mean less enrollment in a city where parents have an open choice. So, to Conwell, the merger was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Polensek called the plan a fait accompli — Latin for something already decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it. He pointed out that four schools on the Northeast side are closing — Collinwood High School, Euclid Park, Kenneth Clement and Hannah Gibbons — and said people will continue to flee the east side if there are not quality schools. In other parts of town, the announced mergers were expected. Councilman Kris Harsh said looking at just Old Brooklyn the decisions were “somewhat expected and workable.” There are still things to work out, like working with CMSD and the Greater Cleveland RTA to get students home from Rhodes High School quickly — an existing issue. Obrenski pointed out that some schools start much earlier than others. And if those schools merge, parents need to know when school will start before they can choose which schools their kids attend. Some schools don’t have enough parking for staff already, and it could get worse with mergers. Morgan has promised to address many of these questions as district officials meet with parents. Obrenski said Thursday CMSD should be transparent as possible. When the dust settles, another question remains: what will happen to CMSD’s 18 building that close? Bibb said Thursday that City Hall will release a plan for the properties in a few weeks. He pointed to the new JFK High School on Cleveland’s Southeast Side and plans to redevelop the old high school as an example of what they’ve done in the past. Conwell said other closed school buildings have been a drain on communities, saying they’re not always well-maintained and they can become magnets for nuisance problems. “It will bring the neighborhood down,” Conwell said. “They need to give us a plan on how they’re going to maintain the exterior of these schools so it won’t take down the whole community.”
