CLEVELAND — The first day of class for Cleveland Metropolitan School District students has gone smoothly, according to Cleveland Teachers Union president Errol Savage, except for a shortage of textbooks.
I first talked with Savage on Sunday about the upcoming school year, when he mentioned his concern regarding a lack of a sufficient number of textbooks.
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"There are a couple of concerns of textbooks, but very few and a couple of concerns about teaching materials being delivered on time to the teachers tomorrow morning," Savage told me on Sunday.
When asked if this issue is something new or a pattern, Savage said, "Not every year, but it was enough where everybody was tired of it. Just get our orders right, let's get this done, have the pay orders, you know, pay the textbook company so that they ship on time and get the books where they're supposed to be. It happened enough last year where they (CMSD) didn't want to see it again this year."
After visiting school buildings on Monday, Savage said the district is down to one school — Stephanie Tubbs Jones K-8 School — that is without math textbooks for some grade levels.
Online material is being used instead for the time being.
Savage told me the main catalyst for this issue is the 39 mergers and moves that have occurred as part of the Building Brighter Futures plan.
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"I don't like to blame other people, but I think this was the textbook company that made a mistake. Due to the mergers, they had the wrong name or the wrong numbers listed. Of course we want the books, everything ready on day one, but this is a large district, and I think the district did a good job with getting everything where it was supposed to be," Savage said.
Savage said another problem might be that the district often changes which textbook company it purchases from.
"If we had one company that was doing it year after year after year, they would say, 'No, last year you ordered this many. Why are we changing it?' Of course we should catch that in the district. I think we're getting there. I think this year the district got it right. That's not always the most exciting story, but it's a good one to have," Savage said.
I reached out to the school district for an interview Sunday night.
In four bullet points instead, CMSD Communications Officer Jon Benedict said:
- We are ready and excited for the start of the new school year!
- We order books and supplies based on early projections. This process is in place every year.
- Like any year, there will be a point shortly after the start of the school year when we reconcile projections to the actual students who show up and adjust staff and supplies.
- This year is somewhat unique, as we have large numbers of students attending new schools and large numbers of new enrollees. While we expect normal start-of-the-school-year bumps, and maybe some situations special to this special year, we’re confident that our schools are ready, and that our students and staff will rise to the occasion as they do every year.
Savage said the school district has assured him the missing math textbooks will be in the hands of those students sometime this week.
"We always have concerns because we always want something better, which is the right attitude to have. We can always do better. What I'm looking at right now are schools are functioning properly," Savage said.
