COLUMBUS, Ohio — After the most recent Columbus City Schools task force meeting was canceled Wednesday and Thursday, parents in the district are voicing their concerns.
Those meetings were intended to take in feedback from the public about the possibility of closing up to 20 schools in the district.
“I was just very disappointed because every one of these meetings counts and I have a real fear that the board is going to vote on these plans without having adequate feedback from the community," said Anna Gawboy, a parent of an elementary student in the district.
Some of the meetings take place during normal working hours, with Wednesday's meeting initially scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the Whetstone Community Center.
A post on the district’s website says the sudden cancellation is because of the recent events from the board of education.
At the board of education meeting Tuesday night, parents called for the resignation of board member Brandon Simmons after leaked documents sparked shock and outrage from the teacher’s union. Those documents detailed ways to "dominate the board room" and drive a wedge between the opponents.
"I feel like we are in the ultimate plot twist scenario at this point, so you've canceled these meetings because of a controversy that's popped up within your own team of people," said Khadija Adams, another parent in the district.
The task force is supposed to make a decision next month on school closures.
“The deadline still looms. We're not talking about a reschedule of these conversations. I think in an ideal scenario, the window was already too short. We don't make an announcement the second week of May about what we plan to take action on the second week of June,” said Adams.
As of now, there are three scheduled dates left for task force meetings.
The next one is scheduled virtually for May 29.