COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus City Schools Board of Education has enlisted outside help to continue plans to consolidate nine schools across the district.
At Tuesday night’s board meeting, Dr. Terrance Green, an associate professor at UT Austin, was introduced to guide the board through the next steps.
“We recognized we wanted to be very intentional. We needed an expert who could really guide us through an authentic process,” said Christina Vera, CCS Board President. “It’s a big, big decision to be made and it’s not something that just impacts one person or one group of individuals, so Dr. Green is an essential part of this next phase of the realignment process.”
Over the summer, a task force recommended nine schools and one administrative building be closed. There was a possibility that could have happened in a short period of time ahead of the 2024-2025 school year, but it was delayed.
“Over the summer when the board received the final recommendations, my colleagues and I unanimously said we want to take some time to dig a little deeper and really wanted to think about the communities within these nine buildings,” Vera said.
Green made a presentation at Tuesday’s meeting, briefly going over the items he was looking at and what he believes the board should do next.
“That is something that should have happened before now. A deep broad engagement with the community and centering student voices should have been at the front end. Not the back end,” Green said.
Vera said bringing in Green does not negate the work of the task force. She said his work would just help them further understand the process.
“It complements the work the task force did. The task force did what they were charged to do. Those individuals did an incredible job of digging into the data,” Vera said. “That work was incredible and a huge part of being able to move into the next phase. Certainly, nothing is ever wiped. It’s always about the next phases. That’s where we are right now.”
Al Edmondson served on the task force that made those recommendations. He said he doesn’t understand why the board is bringing Green into the process now.
“We spent a lot of time studying and putting the package together and making sure we heard everybody’s voice,” he said. “I don’t know what makes sense about it, but if it’s going to help the kids and make sure the task gets done, I guess you have to do it.”
Vera said it’s still too early to now put a date on when the decision to close buildings or not will happen.
“It’s too early to say, but certainly we want to do what’s best for students. We want to do what’s best for their future of their academic experience,” Vera said. “There will not be any surprises as to when these decisions will be made. That information will be forthcoming as it becomes available.”
She said the board will be visiting the buildings recommended for closure in late October. There is a special meeting scheduled for November to talk about what they were told by students, teachers, staff and parents.