COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus City Schools Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force released preliminary results of a community survey about its plan to close 20 schools.
The results were less than hopeful with only 377 responses.
The task force, made up of community volunteers, agreed it needs to do a better job, not only to reach out to the community to fill out the survey, but also to encourage more student voices in the project.
“We need to find another way to connect with students,” said Lois Carson, president of Columbus School Employees Association (CSEA).
The task force toyed with the idea of adding more public meetings to help engage more people.
Currently, there are 12 meetings scheduled until June 6. The Task Force chose not to add more meetings.
The scheduled meetings are included below:
May 29, 20024
- 11:30 a.m. Virtual Session
May 30, 2024
- 9:30 a.m. at Schiller Park Recreation Center (1069 Jaeger St.)
- 9:30 a.m. at Bottoms Up Coffee Cafe (1069 W. Broad St.)
- 5:30 p.m. at Community Refugee & Immigration Services (C.R.I.S.) (4645 Executive Dr.)
- 5:30 p.m. at Columbus Education Center (270 E. State St., Assembly Room)
June 1, 2024
- 11:00 a.m. - Radio One Town Hall (listen and ask questions live on Power 107.5/106.3 and Magic 95.5.)
June 4, 2024
- 9:30 a.m. - Community Grounds Cafe (1134 Parsons Ave.)
June 5, 2024
- 9:30 a.m. - Barnett Recreation Center Gymnasium (1184 Barnett Rd.)
- 5:30 p.m. - Whetstone High School (4405 Scenic Dr.)
June 6, 2024
- 11:30 a.m. Virtual Session
- 5:30 p.m. - Briggs High School Auditorium (2555 Briggs Rd.)
- 5:30 p.m. - Olde Orchard Elementary School (800 McNaughten Ave.)
The task force also agreed that it would only decide on school building closings, not the ramifications of what those closings will impact, like school boundaries and transportation.
That decision will be left to the school board and a yet-to-be-hired consultant.
The task force has until the end of June to come up with a final plan about which schools will close and which will consolidate.