CLEVELAND — Cleveland Metropolitan School District leadership is set to announce its recommendations on closing and consolidating schools on Wednesday evening. It's an announcement that comes just a day after the November election, putting in place the city's leadership for the next four years.
RELATED: 6:30 PM: CMSD school board to discuss recommended closures, consolidations
"I'll savor it tonight, but tomorrow we got a long to-do list as always," Mayor Justin Bibb told News 5 after winning re-election Tuesday. He spoke of the two town halls he scheduled for next week.
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"We got to get back out there talking to residents about the challenges we have around public safety, talking about the challenges we're going to have with CMSD and our schools. want to make sure the residents are hearing from their mayor about the progress that we've accomplished, but the work that still remains," he said.
The town halls are slated for Collinwood High and Tremont Montessori, two CMSD schools that are rumored to be on the chopping block. Bibb acknowledged the sites chosen with the school's announcement in mind, though not tipping his hand as to how those schools would be impacted.
"Yes, absolutely, it'll be about the future of CMSD and the tough decisions that CMSD has to make and make sure we're on a pathway towards sustainability but also about all of the challenges we're facing every day," Bibb said.
Schools are very much on his plate and on that of Councilman Mike Polensek, the city's longest serving council member, winning another four years Tuesday, defeating fellow Councilmember Anthony Hairston. Polensek is many things, a Collinwood High grad chief among them.
"You know the late (Congresswoman) Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who we went to school with, told us, 'once a Railroader, always a Railroader," Polensek recited along with longtime friend, campaign manager and Collinwood classmate Greg Pollard.
"[Collinwood] was once the largest high school in the state of Ohio, and what they did to it I will tell you is criminal, what they did to Collinwood High School," Polensek said. "All of us in the community are concerned with what they haven't done at Collinwood High School, they stripped of the programs, the vocational technical programs, they won't fix the pool, they don't have the basic amenities there that the kids need."
Polensek said he's prepared to fight not only for it but for the other east side elementary schools that are also rumored to be on the chopping block.
"Let me be very blunt about it, they are destabilizing the east side of the city," he said. "If they come up with a program to close more schools, all you are going to see is more families move out of the city or put their kids in sub-par charter schools. That's not the answer for neighborhood stability."
