COLUMBUS, Ohio — After months of deliberation, the Columbus City Schools Facilities Task Force shared its recommendations for school and building closures with the school board Tuesday night.
Of the six varying scenarios presented to the board, it would include about 20 closures of buildings and schools. Each closure would come with consolidation into other schools, redistricting or other changes.
Both Columbus City Schools administration and parents are calling this a pivotal moment for the district. Several parents attended the meeting Tuesday night and were extremely unhappy with what the task force had to say.
"I feel absolutely heartbroken but more so angry,” Susan Cavendish said.
Cavendish is a mother of four. One of her children is a West Broad Elementary student, which is one of the schools proposed to be shut down.
"My daughter thrives on reliability. She loves her school and her teachers,” Cavendish said.
Other schools suggested to close in different scenarios include:
- Broadleigh Elementary School
- Cranbrook Elementary School
- Duxberry Park Elementary School
- Fairwood Elementary School
- Hubbard Elementary School
- Lindbergh Elementary School
- Moler Elementary School
- North Linden Elementary School
- Northtowne Elementary School
- Siebert Elementary School
- Valleyview Elementary School
- Buckeye Middle School
- Johnson Park Middle School
- Sherwood Middle School
- Marion Franklin High School
The task force released its initial recommendations online, further detailing the scenarios and proposed plans if certain schools closed.
"It does feel like a bad time to make massive financial decisions about closing and consolidating schools when the school district doesn't have a treasurer,” Stuart McIntyre, another parent in the district, said.
Many parents are also questioning the people chosen to be on the task force, which the Board of Education approved.
"It says to me, you chose people knowingly and willingly who did not have the community's best interest at heart,” Cavendish said.
Task force members emphasized that what was presented at Tuesday's meeting was only their initial recommendations.
"As it relates to how we came up with this initial list of recommendations, it was all quantitative data,” Jim Negron, co-chair of the task force, said.
"I would say to all of our parents, community members, and stakeholders to take a deep breath,” Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman said.
Chapman added the task force is encouraging feedback from the community during their engagement sessions over the next month.
"We welcome the feedback, whether the feedback is related to transportation, whether the feedback is related to programming, whether the feedback is related to their preference,” Chapman said.
The task force will make the final recommendations for the school board to vote on in June.
For a full list of community forums and gallery walks where CCS community members can have their voices heard, click here.