Two Cleveland Metropolitan School District board members resigned in recent months, leaving seats on the board to fill.
Nigamanth Sridhar, the board’s vice president, stepped down in mid-October citing growing responsibilities in his role as provost at Cleveland State University. Diana Welch Howell left in August after the district chose her employer, KeyBank, to issue bonds for the district.
Mayor Justin Bibb, who is ultimately responsible for picking the board’s nine members from a pool of candidates, has put out a call for two new board members. Applications are open and can be sent to City Hall or submitted online by Nov. 13.
Board members serve four-year terms. There is no limit on how many terms a person can serve. One of the empty seats on the board will be up for reappointment in June 2027 and the other in June 2029.
How does the CMSD board appointment process work?
Applying for the school board is a bit like applying for a job. The first step is completing a written application that includes questions about the person’s educational background, job history, involvement in the community and vision for students.
Seats are open to all residents of the school district, which includes Cleveland as well as Bratenahl, Linndale, Newburgh Heights, and parts of Brook Park and Garfield Heights. Elected officials and district employees cannot serve on the board.
Four members of the board must have some expertise in education, finance or business management. Board members are not required to have children enrolled in CMSD.
A panel of 11 volunteers will review the applications and, from that pool, pick nominees to send to the mayor, who then makes official appointments.
Ohio law dictates the makeup of the nominating panel, which must include:
- 3 members who are parents or guardians of children attending a CMSD school. They must be appointed by the District Parent Advisory Council, which is a group of representatives from each school’s Parent Advisory Council.
- 3 members appointed by the mayor.
- 1 member is appointed by the president of Cleveland City Council.
- 1 teacher is appointed by the collective bargaining representative of the Cleveland Teachers Union.
- 1 principal is appointed through a vote of CMSD’s principals.
- 1 representative of the business community is appointed by an organized collective business entity selected by the mayor. Currently this is the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
- 1 president of a public or private institution of higher education located within CMSD who is appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
