Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced Wednesday a consolidation plan that will impact every corner of the district and city.
If the plan is approved by the board of education when it votes in early December, the district will close 18 buildings, end five leases and have 29 fewer schools operating starting in the 2026-2027 school year. Students and staff will move into the remaining buildings.
If approved, the district will have 45 elementary schools, down from 61 schools at 62 buildings, and 14 high schools, down from 27 schools at 23 buildings.
The district has seen its enrollment drop by half since the early 2000s, down to about 34,000 students as of 2024, and officials have said the district is facing budget challenges as costs rise and state and federal funding declines. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan said the consolidation will save about $30 million every year.
鈥淭his moment demands action,鈥� Morgan said.
Morgan and the district have also said that it must consolidate in order to provide a better educational experience for all students, by focusing resources on a smaller number of schools.
What the plan calls for
All of the district鈥檚 multi-high school campuses will be merged into single programs. The John Hay School of Science and Medicine, Cleveland Early College High School and the John Hay School of Architecture and Design will all become one, for example. Campus International High School will also be merged with the John Hay campus.
Collinwood High School will be merged with Glenville High School. The two schools will eventually be located in a new high school on the Northeast Side expected to open by 2031.
In terms of elementary school mergers, Kenneth Clement Boys Leadership Academy and Valley View Boys Leadership Academy 鈥� which are almost 20 miles apart and on opposite sides of the city - will be combined and moved to the Mary M. Bethune Building, and renamed for the Kenneth Clement program. The district鈥檚 two Montessori programs will also move to new buildings.
Morgan said the district will 鈥渆xplore all options to keep as many employees as possible,鈥� while following union agreements, so it鈥檚 not yet clear if layoffs will result from the merger.
He said the district wants every school to have strong enrollment, defined as 450 students at each elementary school and 500 students at each high school, which the plan will accomplish. He also said it wants every student to learn in a new or recently updated building, which will become a reality in the coming years as new buildings come online.
Finally, Morgan said the plan will also achieve a goal for students at each high school to have access to college credit and career pathway programs starting next school year, and for each K-8 school to offer at least one new non-core course offering like band, foreign languages or Algebra 1 in eighth grade, also starting next school year. In some cases, Morgan said students will have access to new sports and extracurriculars where they had few before.
Plan expected to generate debate
Newly re-elected Cleveland City Councilmember Mike Polensek was livid about the recommendation to merge Collinwood with Glenville High School. After the meeting Thursday, he called for the board of ed to become an elected body instead of one appointed by the mayor. He said the district is continuing to deprive the East Side of opportunities for children.
"Not only Collinwood and Glenville, they're gonna close two new schools in my neighborhood," Polensek said. "Total of four schools being closed. You know what Building Brighter Futures is? Moving to the suburbs. That's what's gonna happen. We're gonna lose, more families are gonna leave or they're going to put their kids in substandard charter schools."
The district's plans call for Hannah Gibbons to be moved to Memorial School, about two miles to the west, and Euclid Park School to move to East Park School, about two and a half miles away. All are located on the Northeast Side of Cleveland.
Board Member Diana Welch-Howell questioned how the district approached which schools it would close from a geographic standpoint, noting it appeared more schools on the East Side would be affected.
"We actually have more schools on the East Side and lower enrollment. So we actually a larger number of schools than what we do on the West Side," Morgan responded. "With Building Brighter Futures, we'll actually have about the same, and this is for elementary schools, we'll have about same number of schools on the East and West Side now."
Board Member Nigamanth Sridhar questioned if themed magnet campuses like John Marshall, which currently has three schools focused on separate disciplines, will lose their unique identities when being combined.
"These schools have used their themes as a way to attract students to their schools," he asked Morgan. "And one might say some have been more successful than others. In this new configuration, how do you anticipate, from a leadership perspective, how we will attract students to schools to continue to use these themes, but the broader aspect of that as well?"
Morgan said students attending those buildings will now have access to all offerings that might previously have been siloed at the different schools.
Shari Obrenski, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, said she was still absorbing the information after the meeting Wednesday. Still, she foresaw some of the moves could lead to residents and students being upset.
"Taking the one all boys (leadership academy) option from the West Side and moving it to the East Side so that there is no option on the West Side, that's problematic," she said.
Eugene Ward, pastor at Greater Love Missionary Baptist Church, attended the meeting Wednesday. As someone who attended multiple CMSD schools as a child, he said he supported the changes. He said he believed consolidation will improve all students' academic options.
"Changes have to be made. We're down to 30-something thousand students, and we've got to make sure that... the buildings are being used and our money is being used wisely as we keep passing these levies," Ward said.
There was no public comment session during the meeting Wednesday. However, the district said additional speaking slots and time will be available at the next three meetings while the board considers the plan.
The final vote is scheduled for Dec. 9.
