by Chuck Hoven

   (Plain Press December 2025) Over 150 community members gathered at Max Hayes High School on November 19^th for the first of three Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) Board of Education meetings where the members of the public would have a chance to offer input into the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Building Brighter Futures plan.

   At the start of the meeting Cleveland Board of Education Chair Sara Elaqad spoke of the role of the Board of Education in directing the administration to embark on creating the plan.

   Chair Elaqad said, “Last year, with the community’s input, the Board created District goals and guardrails for the first time in the District’s history to ensure that our District delivers to its students the education that they deserve, and that we monitor our progress towards that goal in a transparent and effective way. Earlier this year, we shifted our meeting structure, so we spend less time reading out resolution titles, and more time actually monitoring whether our district is succeeding in its primary business – educating the children of Cleveland. This structure functions to hold our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) accountable as well to transparently monitoring in public meetings his progress towards the goals and guardrails we have set – an approach that he has wholeheartedly embraced – rather than picking information about what we want to share with the public on a given day.”

   Elaqad went on, “At times that has meant the Board and District having to face some unfortunate realities about how we are not delivering for our students. At the same time, it has given us the opportunity to set up the work to do better. We cannot change what we do not face.”

   Elaqad said, “In order to achieve our goals that we set for the district, it was clear to the Board that our building footprint would need to change if we were to deliver the math, literacy, and post-secondary outcomes that we are aiming for over the next several years. For that reason, in January of this year the Board directed Dr. Morgan to embark on a long-term facilities planning process that included significant community engagement. The initial result of that process was the Building Brighter Futures recommendation that the CEO presented to the Board and community two weeks ago.”

   Board Chair Elaqad said, “Now, it is up to the Board of Education to exercise its statutory role as the governing board of our school district and to review, discuss, and listen to additional community input on the proposed recommendations before making the final decision on consolidation of our footprint. Regarding input, as many of you know, we have doubled the number of public comment slots during our meetings. I challenge anyone to find a public body in this city that is willing to adopt its standard operating procedures in that way to allow for more public input. Regarding input, I do want to say, we are looking to make changes with as much care and thought as we possibly can. However, input is not going to mean that everyone gets to choose what they do and do not want.”

   Following Board of Education Chair Elaqad’s comments members of the public were invited to make comments of up to three minutes each during the public comment period. While the maximum of twenty people signed up to speak, there were not twenty public comments.  Six of those who signed up online to speak did not show up at the meeting, so only 14 people participated in the public comment session.

   Four community members gave moving testimony about the benefits children receive from attending small schools that are slated to move to other buildings. Three people spoke on behalf of Louisa May Alcott on Baltic Road, and one parent spoke on behalf of Valley View Boys Leadership Academy in the West Park neighborhood.

   One, a parent of a first-grade student from Louisa May Alcott, said, “I am here tonight because this school has made a life changing difference for my child and so many others, and it deserves to remain open.”  She said that when her family moved to Cleveland from Texas last school year, they were worried about how their son would adjust to a new school. She said on her child’s first day at Louisa May Alcott “the teachers, staff, and students welcomed us with a level of warmth and care that makes us feel right at home immediately and comfortable with our decision to attend a public school in an unfamiliar city. That kind of warmth cannot be measured in enrollment numbers. Because Alcott is a smaller Kindergarten thru Grade 5 school, teachers truly get to know their students.”

   The parent said that within just weeks of her son arriving at the school, teachers “identified areas where he needed extra support. Needs his previous much larger school never recognized. With the focused attention he receives at Alcott, that personal investment is shaping his confidence, his new love of learning, and his future. That is the power of a smaller community school. And it is exactly why a Kindergarten thru grade 5 environment like ours must be protected. I see this impact every time I volunteer. The classrooms are joyful and engaging, the building is well maintained, and the teachers and staff are deeply invested in every child’s success.”

   She added, “We may not rely on certain support programs for our family, but we absolutely value them for our community. Programs like our Care Closet help families that need extra support and strengthen the sense of community that defines our school. I also want to briefly mention our students that receive Special Education services. Families are being told that these students may not be able to move with the rest of our building to the merged school. And that there may not be space. Your decision should be based on transparent accurate information to fully understand the impact on most of our vulnerable students. They deserve to remain with the teachers, peers, and routines that serve them best. Every child at Alcott deserves a guarantee, not just a promise of that stability. So, for families like mine, Alcott is not just a school, it is a safe nurturing place close to home where children can grow and flourish.” She said closing Louisa May Alcott will not only disrupt her child’s progress, “but the strong foundations being built for so many children whose journeys are just beginning and children I see every time I volunteer. I ask you to look beyond numbers and truly see the lives being shaped at Alcott. Please keep our school open.”

   A second parent of several boys who are students at Louisa May Alcott came to advocate on behalf of the Special Education Program and special needs students. He said, “Four years ago I moved over to The Land from New York, and my priority was to find the right school for my boys that can give me the help I need to lead them down the right path of progression. Thank God I landed with CMSD, which I am forever grateful to, and Louisa May Alcott. I didn’t do this by myself. You talk about a perfect storm. CMSD created a perfect storm in Louisa May Alcott with the special people that they put in there that took care of my boys.” The parent went on to name and praise of many of the teachers and staff at Louisa May Alcott.

   The parent said that when his boys started at Louisa May Alcott four years ago, one of his sons was nonverbal. He says now that son can “sit down and hold a small conversation with you – back and forth.” The parent said his other son started off in a self-contained class and with the help of teachers at the school he is now flourishing in a general education class.

   He said of Louisa May Alcott, “It changed my life. It changed my boys’ lives. Parents know that there needs to be a plan. There needs to be change, and that is for sure. But the plan needs to get tweaked to give parents smaller school options, so that it is not all big schools. For my sons, for a lot of parents their kids excel in smaller schools. So, we need to have options like Louisa May Alcott. It works. If you want to keep what works, I am living it. My boys are living proof that it works there. So, we should keep it. It provides the excellence and inclusion that are core factors. Board, if any of you have kids. CMSD if you got kids, especially with special needs, you feel where I am coming from.”

   A third person speaking upon behalf of Louisa May Alcott said, “I am not against favoritism. I am against being no one’s favorite. The Building Brighter Futures plan did not cut our way at Louisa May Alcott, and I could almost stomach it until we got to Special Education. We move together at Louisa May Alcott. If we are told we are all merging, we all merge. To hear our Special Education may be with us, or maybe not. We don’t move like that. Our Special Education kids have never heard nothing like that.”

   He went on to say, “I have a recommendation that we have a Building Brighter Futures meeting specifically for Special Education before this vote. You have done a wonderful and incredible job of hearing the hard questions and hearing the hard statements. You have built the guardrails. You have built the core values. Let your hard work – work, and hear out the community of Special Education. And, if you have a problem, we will help you.” He said, “We have seen a special dedication to the specialized schools, but we want to see a special dedication to Special Education.”

   In finishing up, the Louisa May Alcott advocate said, “We understand that you have prop points and data points and all of that. But what will it take to keep Louisa May Alcott open? This magical place – don’t moth ball it and lose the magic. If the guard rails are the wall, and the core values are the line, then let Louisa May Alcott be the trampoline for Special Education, for integration, so those that go into the future are not lost, but we can propel them into the future.”

   A West Park neighborhood parent of a student at Valley View Boys Leadership Academy spoke of the reasons she chose to send her son to Valley View and how he has thrived there. She said she observed the principal and staff outside the school each morning greeting the students, giving them fist bumps and calling them by name.

   She said her son has an Individual Education Plan and has attended the school since preschool and now is in third grade.  He has thrived in the smaller school setting, she said. “We have stuck with Cleveland. Valley View was known for the extended school day, the extended school year, and after care — all those things have stopped for us. We have navigated having grandparents pick up, with a school on the East Side of Cleveland that is not an option for my parents who are 77 years old to go and pick him up.  If there is an emergency there is no one able to pick him up over an hour away. I work in Lorain County for Lorain County Children’s Services. Although I want to stick with Valley View and Cleveland, I just want you to know how special it has been to be able to attend a school in our community where he can walk to school if needed. He is right there. It has been a pleasure working with Cleveland so far, and it is heartbreaking to know another school in our community will be closing.”

   Other speakers included those offering support for the plan as representatives of the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland Public Library, MetroHealth Hospital, and the Pre4Cle program. A local businessman and Zak Reed also voiced their support for the plan.

   Cleveland Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski asked the Board of Education to use a red pen rather than a rubber stamp when reviewing the plan. She offered several examples of cases where that may be necessary.

   School nurses advocated for a team nursing proposal to be adopted by the district. The president of the Cleveland Council of Administrators and Supervisors called for the district to include school administrators and supervisors in developing the process to implement the Building Brighter Futures plan. Members of the Service Employees International Union, representing 600 school employees, asked the CMSD Board and administration to engage with their members in the planning process noting the vital services they provide in food and nutrition services, secretarial staffing, and environmental support services.