CLEVELAND — Multiple community members shared their concerns about student safety, community development, and charter schools at a town hall meeting on Tuesday at Collinwood High School, hosted by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
The mayor and senior administration leaders answered residents' questions and discussed the Building Brighter Futures plan.
Sarah Hodge has been a teacher at Collinwood High School for 25 years. This is one of the buildings that CMSD plans to close.
“I have a lot of concerns, because I feel like the PowerPoint that was presented wasn't a full, fleshed out plan for the district,” said Hodge.
News 5 previously reported that CMSD proposed merging 39 schools. Reducing the number of schools by 29 would close 18 CMSD buildings, and 5 leased spaces will not operate as schools next academic year.
The district says it has lost 50% of its student population and needs to save $150 million over the next few years to avoid a budget deficit by 2028. The district has said that consolidation could save almost $30 million a year. However, Hodge had concerns that she felt needed to be addressed.
“What's going to happen to the children? How are they going to be transported if their neighborhood schools close and they can't walk to school? how are parents going to get their children to school on time if their work schedule doesn't match with the new school schedule? and I have so many other questions,” said Hodge.
So, she took her concerns to the community town hall meeting. Bibb supports the board's proposal, including a new high school coming to the Collinwood neighborhood.
“What I am excited about is the fact that by 2031 we're going to have a brand new high school in this neighborhood that's going to offer trades, that's going to offer career tech, that's going to offer more college and career courses so our young people have the skills they need to be competitive,” Bibb said.
According to the mayor, on an average day at Collinwood High School, 96 students attend classes even though the building was built for roughly 1,100 students.
“It costs the same amount of money to keep the heat on, it costs the same amount of money to make sure this place is safe, it costs the same amount of money to have great teachers and great principals and great custodial staff. And that’s the story in a lot of our schools across the district,” Bibb said.
Safety was a major concern for many of the community members who spoke. Dr. Warran Morgan, Greater Cleveland RTA, and police agencies meet regularly to discuss school and student safety on the way to school.
“We work with RTA to think about routes and how we can support students with a safe passage. We have a student advisory council that's already thinking about how the cultures can merge. We’re not saying it’s going to be perfect, but we are working to address it,” said Morgan.
Morgan said that under the recommendations, 100% of students will have equal or expanded academic and extracurricular opportunities and student supports.
He said 96% of students will attend a welcoming school with an equal or higher star rating. And 95% of students will attend a welcoming school with equal or better building conditions.
And arguably the biggest question of the night was what the city plans to do with those 18 CMSD buildings that would be closed?
“We have a game plan immediately for the 18 school sites that are closing. We are planning to repurpose them to advance neighborhood and community development, because I don't want reckless charters that we can't hold accountable to take over these school sites,” Bibb said.
The mayor will hold a second community town hall on Thursday at Tremont’s Montessori school.
