Hundreds of Cincinnati Public Schools students will move to different schools next fall. The school board decided those students’ fates at Monday evening’s business meeting, where the board voted to approve most of an amended restructuring plan that makes way for middle schools.
Those votes came after the board heard from 60 parents, teachers and community members during a public hearing that lasted more than two hours.
“We are counting on you, trusting you and electing you to keep us aware of our options and to inform us, not to take away our options and our voice,” said Rameka Smith, who works with All-In Cincinnati, a community-led equity coalition focused on systemic change. She’s also a parent in the district and said Monday that parents and other stakeholders weren’t engaged properly in forming the growth plan.
Monday’s school board meeting was one of the most attended in-person meetings in recent years.
“We are intelligent enough and capable of being a part of the solution if you would let us,” she said.
Some of the most controversial parts of the proposed plan, which has undergone several changes in recent weeks due to overwhelming pushback from community members, were removed for Monday’s consideration. Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Over-the-Rhine and Hays-Porter School in the West End won’t consolidate or switch to Montessori programming − they’ll stay exactly the same for next school year, on the condition that the schools work on increasing their enrollment.
Clark Montessori High School, too, will stay the same next school year, although its hallways will be even more crowded. Instead of opting for a middle school Montessori option on the city’s west side, the district and Clark agreed to enroll a surplus of 90 students for next school year, procrastinating solving a persistent overcrowding problem that Superintendent Shauna Murphy says will need to be addressed for the following school year.
Board split in every vote, some members question district’s motive for restructuring
Two board members, Ben Lindy and Kendra Mapp, voted against or abstained from all of the votes regarding the administration’s controversial growth plan. The board voted on the plan in chunks because the proposal in its entirety proved to be so divisive among board members and the community.
More: ‘Left out of the process’: Criticism, optimism follows Cincinnati superintendent pick
The proposal was “rooted in division, confusion and chaos,” Mapp said Monday.
“These are massive changes, which impact 15,000 students, which constitute 43% of our district. If we’re going to do that, we need really good reasons,” Lindy said at Monday’s board meeting. “We don’t have them. In fact, the reasons offered keep changing.”
Ben Lindy, a board member, spoke out against the district’s proposed growth plan for months leading up to Monday’s vote.
Initially, Lindy said, administrators proposed a major overhaul of the district’s schools as a cost-saving measure. By right-sizing the district’s schools with low enrollment, administrators said they could save the district money. But on Monday, Treasurer Jennifer Wagner said that there were so many unknowns regarding the plan, particularly if the board only approved parts of it, that it was unclear if it would save the district funds or cost it more money down the road.
Then, about a month ago, Lindy said the narrative changed. Suddenly the reason for restructuring came down to a state law that requires districts to offer under-utilized buildings to charter schools. But under-utilization is up to interpretation, district attorney Dan Hoying explained at a recent school board meeting.
“I think we have very strong arguments that we make excellent use of our buildings – using almost every room in every building for instructional purposes,” Lindy said Monday. “If the state comes after us, I say let us prove them wrong in court.”
Some board members and administrators in recent weeks brought forth a third reason for the shuffle: Senate Bill 295, a proposed law that could change the criteria for school closures, including closing schools with chronically low academic performance. Two of the district’s buildings − Withrow University High School and John. J. Gilligan Digital Academy − could be impacted if the bill passes.
But the bill is in its early stages, so there’s no urgent need to consider it in making major changes to the district’s school system, Mapp said.
“I don’t believe that this current plan honors the need for equity,” Kendra Mapp, a board member, said at Monday’s meeting.
“I find it hard to believe that a bill that just started in the past few weeks could have been the motivating reason all along for a plan that started in committee two years ago,” Lindy said.
Those weren’t the only reasons for the proposed changes. On Monday, Superintendent Murphy and Kareem Moffett, a board member, continually pointed to the specific needs of sixth, seventh and eighth graders as the reason for the shift. Middle schools are necessary, Murphy said, to support students at those critical ages.
The proposal also addressed the need to support a growing population of multi-language learners, Murphy said. And it offered a range of new programs − from cosmetology to JROTC − for students across the district. Murphy said she did her homework in developing the plan.
She also said she understands that big changes bring frustrations for parents and educators, and that everyone just wants what’s best for kids.
“I do, too,” Murphy said. “That’s it, that’s all.”
What’s changing? Board votes to add middle schools
Murphy presented 10 packages to the board on Monday. The board approved all of them, although some were only approved with amendments.
The district has struggled with poor behavior among its sixth, seventh and eighth graders, Kareem Moffett said Monday. That is part of the reason why the restructuring plan was developed in the first place, she said – to better support students in those grades.
Here’s what’s changing for next school year:
West Corridor
-
Ethel M. Taylor Academy will become a junior high school serving students in seventh and eighth grades.
-
Western Hills University High School will no longer have seventh and eighth graders.
-
Roll Hill School will continue to serve kids in preschool through sixth grade, including students who previously attended Ethel M. Taylor Academy.
-
LEAP Academy will add seventh graders, and then eighth graders the following school year.
-
Sayler Park School will add ninth graders next year, and a new grade each year after that until it is a preschool through twelfth grade building.
-
Boundary lines will change for Carson School, Rees E. Price Academy and Covedale School.
Central Corridor
-
William H. Taft Elementary School will likely become a neighborhood Montessori school. The school will also house The Wrap, which will provide services and support to students and families including emergency assistance, health and wellness, financial assistance and counseling, legal support, social services, technology help and housing assistance.
-
South Avondale School will become a middle school for students in sixth through eighth grades who previously attended Hughes and Woodward. Students who went to South Avondale will now go to Rockdale Academy.
-
Hughes STEM High School will no longer have seventh and eighth graders.
-
Woodward Career Technical High School will no longer have seventh and eighth graders.
-
Aiken High School will no longer have seventh and eighth graders.
-
Pleasant Hill Academy will turn into a middle school for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, absorbing some students from Aiken. Students who went to Pleasant Hill will go to College Hill Academy. This will also change boundary lines for students at College Hill, Winton Hills Academy and Mount Airy School.
-
Hartwell School will serve students in fifth through eighth grades. Students who went to Hartwell will move to Carthage School.
East Corridor
-
Withrow University High School will no longer have seventh and eighth graders.
-
Evanston Academy will turn into a junior high school for seventh and eighth graders who previously attended Withrow.
-
Frederick Douglass School will serve students in preschool through fifth grade, including students who used to go to Evanston Academy.
Other notable items the board approved on Monday:
-
To create a centralized enrollment system.
-
To add career academies in entrepreneurship, cosmetology and auto to at least Woodward Career Technical High School’s campus.
-
To allow the superintendent to start conversations with the city about youth cadet programs.
-
To expand the Public Safety Academy, which currently has a fire and EMS program at Western Hills University High School, to Withrow University High School and Sayler Park School.
“I think this is going to have a big impact on student outcomes, a positive impact, especially seventh and eighth graders,” James Crosset, the newest board member, said Monday.
“But, also, just a reminder to the administration that as we go forward,” Crosset said, “it’s going to be really important to continue to have great communication with communities and marketing these things and getting feedback.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati school board approves big changes for next school year