Cleveland schools CEO Warren Morgan spent time at Wednesday night’s board meeting responding to questions that have bubbled up at family and community meetings since he unveiled a proposal to merge 39 schools, closing 18 schools.
The plan was rolled out on Nov. 5. Since then, Morgan said he’s been peppered with questions from students, teachers, parents and community members curious about everything from how transportation will work to how merged high schools might handle class rankings to how different sides of the city are impacted by the plan.
Wednesday night’s meeting included additional time for public comment. Union leaders, school nurses and district administrators took to the microphone with feedback about the process as well as staffing concerns at larger schools with more students. Community partners and city officials weighed in with support for the district’s plan. Top of mind for parents were worries about special education and children who thrive in smaller schools.
The board will vote on the plan at its Dec. 9 meeting. Before then, there is one more board meeting on Dec. 2. Each meeting will have 20 spots open for public comments that are three minutes long.
New information about special education prompts concern from parents and teachers
District officials haven’t been able to guarantee that next year special education students will transition with their classmates to their welcoming school. Currently, students with disabilities make up around 27% of the school district.
“As is now with special education, pre-K, and any specialized program, not every school has seats available for that,” Morgan said at the board meeting. For some families that means their current school might have the services their child needs but their new school may not offer them due to school space constraints.
Morgan said that the district will meet individually with families of students in merging or closing schools who receive specialized services to help them make a choice for school next year. He also indicated the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) leadership is considering holding additional meetings to answer questions for families of special education students prior to the board vote, but he made no guarantees.
A Nov. 12 letter sent to families states that special education students are guaranteed “the same type of specialized classroom they currently attend” next year but—like Morgan at the meeting—does not guarantee these classrooms will be at their assigned welcoming school. The letter was shared with Signal Cleveland by a teacher.
That letter raised concerns for parents and teachers at schools such as Louisa May Alcott, the only K-5 school in the district located in the Edgewater neighborhood. For them, it’s painful that a valued part of their community, students with special needs, may not be able to come with them next year.
“We move together at Louisa May Alcott. We’re told we’re all merging. We all merge. To hear that maybe our special education may be with us, may be not. We don’t move like that,” said Danelle Chappell, who works at Alcott, at the board meeting.
Which students would get transportation?
Since the merger announcement, transportation has been a top concern for many families.
Morgan said that most elementary school students would not have to travel farther than they do to their current school. He said if the board approves the plan, the average distance to the nearest school for those students would “remain well under one mile.”
CMSD will continue to provide transportation for K-8 students for the next two school years as long as they live within three miles of their current school and over a mile from their welcoming school. In order to qualify for transportation, students must accept their spot at their welcoming school otherwise the district’s standard transportation policy applies.
A glimpse into the district’s finances
Over the last few weeks, Morgan and others have said the mergers and closings will translate into $30 million in savings each year—savings they say are necessary because otherwise the district risks running a deficit that would expose it to potential state takeover.
At the meeting, Morgan gave a high-level overview of how the district calculated those numbers. While utilities and leasing make up some of the savings—an estimated $1 million to $2 million—the majority of the savings would come from laying off school staff, mostly administrators. The plan would also cost the district about $7 million in one-time costs such as securing buildings, moving furniture and paying staff who agree to separate or retire.
Ahead of the vote, different groups make their case for their role serving students. Some have formed agreements with the district
Commenters at the meeting included concerned parents, supportive city officials and representatives from groups that serve CMSD students as administrators, teachers, nurses, janitors, secretaries and lunchroom staff.
The groups sat together: the Cleveland Teachers Union (CTU); SEIU Local 1199, which represents school support staff; secretaries as well as dietary and janitorial staff; school nurses; the Cleveland Council of Administrators and Supervisors (CCAS), which informally represents principals, assistant principals and other school-based administrators.
Some of these groups, like teachers, have already begun to achieve safeguards for their members.
On Wednesday, CTU announced an agreement to extend the deadline for teachers to notify the district they plan to retire. Previously they had to notify in early December, but the agreement pushes it to January, after the board votes. Teachers who tell the district early that they plan to retire get a financial bonus as well as exemption from being evaluated.
In public comments at the meeting, representatives for school nurses and from the SEIU advocated for adequate staffing to serve more students in newer and larger buildings next year.
Scherhera Shearer, a representative of SEIU, said that for schools to run well next year, the board has to make sure that there are enough janitors to keep them clean, dietary staff to prepare and serve lunch, and secretaries to keep track of student paperwork.
“These roles are foundational to smooth operations and central to scholar success,” Shearer said.
CCAS leader Quentin Davis, a principal at Garrett Morgan, and CTU president Shari Obrenski urged the board to act on, not just listen to, the feedback it is receiving before it votes on Dec. 9.
“The board has a duty to the community to not only listen and learn from the feedback and input that you’re now getting,” said Obrenski, “but a responsibility to get out your red pen, not your rubber stamp.”
