CLEVELAND — As teachers and staff brace for layoff notices, News 5 Investigators uncovered the Cleveland Metropolitan School District spent $272,000 on an HR consultant to create a staffing plan as part of its Building Brighter Futures consolidation plan.
RELATED: Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Teachers Union release statement about future layoffs
The contract, which News Investigators obtained through a public records request, said the district paid coLeague, which is owned by former CMSD Chief Talent Officer Lora Cover, to "identify necessary reductions" and "determine positions to be frozen, reclassified or repurposed."
Cover will also "Serve as interim leader of the Talent Department" because the district's "Head of Talent" left the district as consolidation efforts got underway, according to the contract.
CMSD watchdog
"I was flabbergasted. It's such a large number," CMSD watchdog, Polly Karr said about the coLeague contract. "And then I saw that it was only for seven months and quickly did the math in my head and I'm like, 'Wow, that's $38,000 - $39,000 a month — that is a paraprofessional for a year."
"I don't understand why we didn't just hire another HR director when we knew that our HR director was leaving," she said. "That would have made more fiscal sense."
She said Cover was paid handsomely to do the "the dirty work" of reducing staff numbers, but won't have to face the consequences of her decisions.
"She gets to leave and not think about what she's done and count her money... our money," she said.
Cleveland Teachers Union
Errol Savage, the newly elected president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, said the district should have been able to figure out staffing levels without paying a high-priced consultant.
"We have people in the district that can figure out if someone needs to be cut or not cut," he said. "I don't think we need to pay outsiders to come in and do that for us."
News 5 Investigators previously reported a state audit found CMSD was top-heavy with administrators compared to similarly sized districts.
RELATED: Cleveland consolidates schools to save money, but what about highly paid administrators?
"I just don't see the justification of spending the public's money to that extent when we have people that are working with children that are going to get cut because we're spending money like that," Savage said.
CMSD response
News 5 Investigators requested an on-camera interview with CEO Warren Morgan. His spokesperson, Jon Benedict, declined our interview request but sent us the following statement:
"To clarify, the consultant is not determining staffing levels.
We engaged CoLeague to provide interim Talent (HR) leadership following the departure of our Chief Talent Officer in late 2025. Given the scale and complexity of implementing Building Brighter Futures, it was critical to have experienced leadership in place immediately rather than attempt to onboard a new permanent hire during this period.
CoLeague, led by former CMSD Chief Talent Officer Lora Cover, was able to step in and provide that continuity and expertise.
Staffing decisions are made internally by CMSD’s executive leadership, based on enrollment data and input from Academics, Finance, Talent, and Legal, and are ultimately reviewed by the Board of Education. The consultant supports this work but does not determine staffing levels."
According to her website's biography, Lora Cover is the current president of the Shaker Heights City School District Board of Education and previously worked at CMSD as a "Chief Talent Officer."
Cover did not respond to our requests for a comment.
"I just don't understand how someone who knows Cleveland and what Cleveland kids fact on a day to day basis can come in take money out of their classroom — and then take their teacher and take their paraprofessional too — and then live with themselves," Karr said. "I don't get that."
