This is a letter to the editor that the Plain Dealer refused to print. It concerns displacing Cleveland students from Garret Morgan and moving in a charter school, the Near West Intergenerational School.

It is no surprise that the PD editorial and Tom Ott’s article left out information of grave concern to the citizens of Cleveland. The district’s and PD’s support of charters, while faking wonderment of enrollment decline has been evident for years.

After the initial failure of the vote and the departure of the board members who voted against the resolution, the appointed board violated Robert’s Rules of Order by allowing Ms. Peterson, who did not vote on the prevailing side, to reconsider the resolution. The Mayor’s office justified this illegal action by stating, “the board is not bound by any specific procedures set forth in Robert’s Rules.” What a mockery of democracy!

The NWIS charter is not being moved into a closed building, but into a high functioning school, which was recently rewired to accommodate the latest technology. The displaced Cleveland students, New Tech Academy, will be moved to a temporary home, the Max Hayes annex, where in the near future they will be forced to move again. There is no mention of the additional costs to prepare Max Hayes for the New Tech students, nor of the yearly operation costs, which will be substantial. There is no mention of the operation costs of Garrett Morgan, which are estimated to cost $426,314 in FY11 and $439,103 in FY12. In light of this information, $60,000 per year in “rent” seems highly suspect.

With the disruption of stability to Garrett Morgan and New Tech academy, and the additional costs to the taxpayers, it makes one wonder who the appointed board really represents.

Gene Tracy                 

Citizen of Cleveland