With Cleveland Metropolitan School District's school choice portal set to close Friday, the school district says so far, half of all students impacted by school mergers have chosen a new school.
There's still time for families to select a school after the portal closes, but if they sign up after the choice portal closes, they may not get their preferred school, officials have said.
The district's Building Brighter Futures consolidation plan calls for 29 fewer schools, including closing 18 buildings starting in fall 2026. It's raised questions of who will keep their kids at CMSD schools and who will choose to go elsewhere, with a myriad of other options in and near the city, from charter and private schools to other districts nearby.
Louisa May Alcott is one of 16 elementary schools that are closing or being merged with others. Parent Allison Jacobs said her two children with disabilities received a lot of support at the small school. She's now struggling to find a school that can replicate that experience.
"They (CMSD) really haven't taken into consideration these children with special needs who need that smaller class, so I'm just trying to figure out how they're going to be able to adapt for that at the schools that I'm looking at," she said, worrying about overcrowding at schools that are being merged.
Jacobs is one of hundreds of parents figuring out where there kids will go to school in the fall. As of Monday, the district said 50% of students whose buildings are merging with others have picked a CMSD school to attend.
What options are available?
During school choice fairs hosted by the school district on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, many families got a chance to speak with principals and staff directly about their schools' offerings.
Alisha Carroll attended the Jan. 31 fair. She said her two children currently attend Dike School of the Arts, which is being closed and merged with Mound School in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Her plan at the time was to follow the district's plan to send them to Mound.
"But I kind of have my differences about it just based off of location, it's not close to where the original school was located, where there were like three other schools that were close by that they could have considered or used as a merger option," she explained. "So transportation is an issue that we're working out."
Still, Carroll said she likes that Mound will become an arts-focused school like Dike.
The district in a statement said the number of new students entering the district, about 1,100, is up compared to last year. Rick McIntosh, executive director of school choice, said he's seen a lot of excitement from families abut the new offerings at the consolidated schools. He and the district have argued the Building Brighter Futures consolidation plan will mean more resources, classes and extracurriculars at schools that remain.
"It's the excitement about what the future offers because of the new Building Brighter Futures, better career pathways, more athletics to offer, enhanced academics at the K-8 level, and different ancillary or encore classes at the K-8s," he said. "So I think people are looking at those options."
Parent Tanesha Williams went to the Jan. 31 school choice fair. Her two daughters are attending Andrew J. Rickoff School this semester and will be going into high school in the fall. She said they have not had a good experience at Rickoff, due to bullying and significant staff turnover in recent years.
"I don't feel like there's too many good schools out here anymore," she said. "The choices are slim."
Williams chose John Hay High School as her daughters' preferred school for next year.
"I just spoke to the representative out there, he was saying there's not really any fights at the school. I think he said it was one fight maybe, and they're very focused on academics and not behavior problems," she said.
However, the district's highest-performing magnet schools like John Hay High School and John Marshall High School only have so many seats, and, typically, there is a lottery to get in if there are too many applicants. McIntosh said students who are affected by the consolidation plan have "first priority" for seats. Students also get higher priority if they are residents within the CMSD footprint than outside the district, or have siblings who are attending the same building.
Ryan Bissler, a teacher at New Tech West, which is being closed and merged with Rhodes High School, said families there are struggling to pick schools.
"Their neighborhood school 鈥� John Marshall is full and not accepting many (if any) transfers because they are already busting at the seams," Bissler said in a statement on the Publicly Cleveland Facebook page. "The district assigned them to Rhodes which is 1. Out of their community, 2. RTA doesn't go through Lindale so their commute is now an HOUR longer 3. Max Hayes which is the school we were previously connected to and share sports with does not take 11th and 12 grade transfers due to the trades."
Charter schools are another option for parents, as are private schools, some of which accept Ohio's recently expanded EdChoice scholarship. But parent Allison Jacobs said many private schools are not equipped to handle students with disabilities. And private schools designed specifically for students with disabilities are out of her price range.
"Usually your only options are the public schools," Jacobs said.
School officials have said once the school choice portal closes and they have a better idea of enrollment for next school year, they will begin making decisions about how many staff will be needed. That could mean layoffs for some.
