Cleveland’s school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a major school merger plan that will reshape the district.
The plan will substantially shrink the district’s footprint next year to 59 total schools–29 fewer than today.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Warren Morgan presented the plan just over a month ago, noting that tough choices would need to be made to right-size a district with half the number of students than it had two decades ago.
Since then, Mayor Justin Bibb and CMSD leaders have made the case that the proposal to merge 39 schools and shutter 18 buildings would address the district’s dire finances while improving academic, career and extracurricular offerings for all students.
“This is a plan to ensure that all of our students, not matter where they go to school, no matter where they live, their background, how they look— that they have expanded opportunities,” Morgan said. “We can’t deliver that today.”
Parents, teachers and community members throughout the district have lobbied the school board to make changes to the plan, including keeping smaller schools open, reconsidering mergers and conducting better planning for special education students.
At Tuesday’s meeting, many reiterated those concerns—at one point a speaker wept while describing his feelings about the Bolton Elementary closure.
Some cautioned the board not to vote without having more details worked out: for space in buildings, transportation and solid plans for special education students and families who could be harmed by instability.
“If you can sleep comfortably and tell me things can work out when it’s time for enrollment, then that means that you are comfortable passing your names, phone numbers and your emails for me to contact when things go horribly wrong,” said a parent with a special education student at Bolton School, which is closing. “Consider what you are doing for all of the kids, not just general education because special ed, they are your children, too.”
CMSD merger plan approved with only one change
Morgan said that the district carefully considered all feedback it received but could not accommodate all requests, no matter the passion behind them. He said leaders examined whether a request was cited multiple times, was supported by data, still offered financial savings as well as better academic options for students and wasn’t a “one-off” change.
For example, Morgan addressed the cases of Euclid Park and Louisa May Alcott, both schools where parents advocated fervently against mergers. Alcott parents and teachers wanted to retain a smaller, community school that was inclusive for special education students. Euclid Park said its families would be unlikely to attend the school it was merging with because of the distance and suggested merging other schools into their building. Morgan said keeping those schools open was not feasible because doing so would not save money or comply with other goals of the plan.
The proposal approved by the board only included one substantial change: merging Dike School of the Arts with Mound instead of with Albert Bushnell Hart. This change was made, Morgan said, because the district heard from many parents they would choose to stay at Mound should the merger occur. This change would also allow the district to still close 18 buildings, meaning it could achieve the financial savings it needs, according to Morgan. Mound will be a K-8 arts-focused school.
The board also will change the names of two schools: Warner Girls’ Leadership Academy will be renamed Mary B. Martin Girls’ Leadership Academy, after the first Black woman to be elected to Cleveland’s school board, and Douglas MacArthur Girls’ Leadership Academy will be renamed after Mary McLeod Bethune, a pioneering educator and civil rights leader.
The district also shared plans, which still need to be approved, to start the school year a week later next year to help with acclimating to the changes. Start and end times for some schools would also likely shift.
“I know that the change is going to be difficult for people, the feeling of uncertainty is quite uncomfortable,” Board Chair Sara Elaqad said. “What we’re voting on today is the plan, the strategy, and then the implementation comes.”
High School changes approved by the board
Fourteen high schools currently co-located in buildings will merge into six new high schools.
These include the three schools on John Hay’s campus, the three schools on John Marshall’s campus, the two high schools on Lincoln-West’s campus, two schools on the Lakeside campus (to be renamed Benjamin O. Davis Jr. High School), the James Ford Rhodes campus and the Garrett Morgan campus.
Five other high schools will merge into other schools:
- Collinwood and Glenville high schools will merge. The district plans to open a new high school serving both neighborhoods in 2031 and will have vocational programs similar to Max Hayes on the Near West Side.
- Campus International High School will merge into the John Hay campus but retain its IB program.
- Facing History and New Tech West will consolidate into James Ford Rhodes High School.
- MC2STEM’s multiple locations will merge into East Tech.
K-8 changes approved by the board
Sixteen elementary schools will merge into the other schools. Next year, the district will have a total of 45 elementary schools.
- Adlai E. Stevenson will merge into Whitney M. Young Leadership Academy
- Charles Dickens will merge into Andrew J. Rickoff
- Alfred A. Benesch will merge into George Washington Carver
- Bolton will merge into Harvey Rice
- Charles A. Mooney will merge into Denison
- Euclid Park will merge into East Clark
- Mary B. Martin will merge into Wade Park
- Hannah Gibbons will merge into Memorial
- Miles will merge into Robert H. Jamison
- Mary Church Terrell will merge into Wilbur Wright and be renamed Wilbur Wright School of the Arts
- Mary M. Bethune will merge into Daniel E. Morgan
- Dike School of the Arts will merge into Mound building and be renamed Mound School of Arts.
- Waverly and Louisa May Alcott will be combined and consolidated into Joseph M. Gallagher
- Valley View Boys’ Leadership Academy will merge into Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy and move to the Mary M. Bethune building.
- Stephanie Tubbs Jones will merge into Franklin D. Roosevelt. The new building will be renamed Stephanie Tubbs Jones
K-8 school moves approved by the board
- The merged Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership and Valley View Boys’ Leadership will move into Mary M. Bethune and be renamed Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership
- Stonebrook-White Montessori will move into the Stephanie Tubbs Jones building and be renamed Michael R. White Montessori
- Tremont Montessori will move into the Waverly School building and be renamed Waverly Montessori
The board approved the plan. What happens next?
Now that the board has approved the changes, the district will begin implementing them. For the newly merged schools, the district will pick school principals this week and name assistant principals after that.
CMSD also plans to launch a school finder tool in December to help families pick schools for next year. It will also hold school fairs for families to learn about their options starting in January. Morgan also presented a draft calendar for next school year.
The school enrollment online portal will open on Jan. 5 and close on Feb. 27. Once enrollment for next year is finalized, the district will be able to start making teacher staffing decisions at merged schools.
Students whose schools are closing will have a guaranteed spot at their welcoming school and priority in the school choice process if they choose to go to another school in the district. To receive their guaranteed spot or priority, they must make their choices by the Feb. 27 deadline. Students will receive their school placements in the week of March 30 and have until mid-April to accept the offers.
Families of special education students can expect to receive individualized outreach from the district about their school options in December, beginning with a letter sent on Dec. 12 and a webinar on Dec. 17.
