The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) has announced a plan to merge or move 39 schools next school year. The sweeping proposal will transform the city’s public school system and touch nearly half of all of its students. If approved by the school board, the district would close 18 school buildings, reducing the total schools in CMSD by 29. The board is set to vote on Dec. 9.
At the high school level, CMSD would consolidate its 27 high schools – currently in 23 separate locations – into 14 total high schools. For elementary schools, the district plans to consolidate 16 schools, reducing the number of elementary schools from 61 to 45 schools. To ensure all students attend class in reasonably well-maintained buildings, the district would also move four elementary schools to buildings that are in better condition.
The students and staff at schools set to close next year would be merged into already existing schools, which CMSD is calling “welcoming” schools. Merged schools would not operate separately within the same building. They would become part of the “welcoming” school. The district would announce principals for the merged schools in December.
The 5,000 students who would have to move school buildings next year would have a guaranteed spot at their “welcoming” school. If they want to go elsewhere, they would be given priority in the school choice process set to begin in January.
Ahead of upcoming meetings with students and families, CMSD has posted information on each school affected by the plan on its Building Brighter Futures website. The information outlines what played into the decision, what would be offered at the new school and how far students would need to travel.
For instance, the plan for the merged John Hay campus school is to maintain admissions requirements and offer early college, science, medicine, engineering, design and IB (International Baccalaureate) tracks. The proposal for Lincoln-West shows that, after the merger, current students would transition to Garrett Morgan High School until the new Lincoln-West building is finished.
The school-by-school information also provides more detail about how school transportation would work. High schoolers who live over a mile from their new school will continue to receive transportation via RTA. Elementary school students who live within three miles of their current school will be eligible for the bus next year and the following year as long as they live over a mile from their “welcoming” school.
High Schools
If the school board approves the plan, 14 high schools that currently share buildings would merge into six new high schools. Five other high schools would end instruction and merge into existing school buildings.
| The Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, Cleveland School of Architecture and Design and Cleveland Early College High School all currently share a campus and will merge. In addition, Campus International will merge with the other three schools at the John Hay campus. | Those four schools would merge into one school, John Hay High School, at the John Hay Campus at 2075 Stokes Blvd. Read the specifics here. |
| Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School and Cleveland High School for Digital Arts currently share a campus and would merge. | These two schools would merge into one school, Benjamin O. Davis High School, at the Lakeside Campus at 1440 Lakeside Avenue East. Read the specifics here. |
| John Marshall School of Civic and Business Leadership, John Marshall School of Engineering and John Marshall School of Information Technology which all currently share a campus and would merge. | These three co-located schools will merge into one school, John Marshall High School, at the John Marshall Campus at 3952 W. 140th St. Read the specifics here. |
| The Lincoln-West School of Global Studies and the Lincoln-West School of Science and Health would merge. | The schools will merge into one school, Lincoln-West High School, and move into the former Garrett Morgan building at 4016 Woodbine Ave. while the school’s new building is under construction. The new building is set to open in 2030. Read the specifics here. |
| Rhodes College and Career Academy and Rhodes School of Environmental Studies would merge. In addition, Facing History New Tech High School and New Tech West High School would merge into the two schools at the Rhodes campus. | The four schools would merge into one school, James Ford Rhodes High School, at the current Rhodes campus at 5100 Biddulph Ave. Read the specifics here. |
| The Garrett Morgan School of Engineering & Innovation and the Garrett Morgan School of Leadership & Innovation would merge. | These two schools would merge into a single school, Garrett Morgan High School, at the Garrett Morgan Campus at 4600 Detroit Ave. Read the specifics here. |
Collinwood and Glenville High Schools will merge into a new school completely. | The two schools would initially merge into the Glenville building at 650 E. 113th St. while the new school is under construction. The new school would open in 2031 and offer a wide array of vocational programs similar to those at Max Hayes on the West Side. Read the specifics here. |
| MC2 STEM would merge into East Tech High School | MC2 STEM’s multiple locations will merge into East Tech High School at 2439 E. 55th St. Read the specifics here. |
Elementary Schools
Sixteen K-8 schools would merge, and next year the district would have 45 elementary schools. Four speciality K-8 schools would remain intact but move into new buildings.
| Adlai Stevenson would merge into Whitney Young Leadership. | The merged school would be at Whitney M. Young Leadership at 17900 Harvard Ave. Read the specifics here. |
Hannah Gibbons would merge into Memorial. | The new merged school would be at Memorial at 410 E. 152nd St. Read the specifics here. |
Euclid Park would merge into East Clark. | The new merged school would be at East Clark at 885 E. 146th St. Read the specifics here. |
Stephanie Tubbs Jones would merge into Franklin D. Roosevelt. | The new merged school would be where FDR is right now at 800 Linn Drive and be renamed Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Read the specifics here. |
Mary M. Bethune would merge into Daniel E. Morgan. | The new merged school would be at Daniel E. Morgan at 8912 Morris Court. Read the specifics here. |
Mary B. Martin would merge into Wade Park. | The new merged school would be at Wade Park at 7600 Wade Park Ave. Read the specifics here. |
Alfred A. Benesch would merge into George Washington Carver. | The new merged school would be at George Washington Carver at 2200 E. 55th St. Read the specifics here. |
Bolton would merge into Harvey Rice. | The new merged school would be at Harvey Rice at 2730 E. 116th St. Read the specifics here. |
Charles Dickens would merge into Andrew J. Rickoff. | The new merged school would be at Andrew J. Rickoff at 3500 E. 147th St. Read the specifics here. |
Miles would merge into Robert H. Jamison. | The new merged school would be at Robert H. Jamison at 4092 E. 146th St. Read the specifics here. |
Mound would merge into Albert Bushnell Hart. | The new merged school would be at Albert Bushnell Hart at 3900 E. 75th St. Read the specifics here. |
Mary Church Terrell would merge into Wilbur Wright. | The new merged school would be at Wilbur Wright at 11005 Parkhurst Drive and renamed Wilbur Wright School of the Arts. Read the specifics here. |
Waverly would be merged with Louisa May Alcott and Joseph M. Gallagher. | The three merged schools would be at Joseph M. Gallagher at 6601 Franklin Blvd. Read the specifics here. |
Charles A. Mooney would merge with Denison. | The new merged school would be at Denison at 3799 W. 33rd St. Read the specifics here. |
Valley View Boys’ Leadership Academy would merge with Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy. | The new merged school would be at the Mary M. Bethune building at 11815 Moulton Ave. The Mary M. Bethune building will then be renamed Kenneth W. Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy. Read the specifics here. |
Stonebrook-White Montessori will move to the Stephanie Tubbs Jones building. | The Stephanie Tubbs Jones building at 11901 Durant Ave. will be renamed Michael R. White Montessori. Read the specifics here. |
Dike School of the Arts will move to the Mound building. | The Mound building at 5935 Ackley Rd. will be renamed Dike School of the Arts. Read the specifics here. |
Tremont Montessori will move to the Waverly building. | The Waverly building at 1805 W. 57th St. will be renamed Waverly Montessori. Read the specifics here. |
