Cleveland - A new day is rapidly approaching for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
The district's Board of Education unanimously approved a plan that includes the consolidation of several schools, the closure of others, but also the postponing of the closure of Collinwood High School for at least one year.
Community leaders had voiced concerned over the proposal, saying it would negatively impact education and the local economy by dooming preschools and elementary schools in the neighborhood.
Under the plan, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will:
- Consolidate Glenville and Martin Luther King Jr. high schools at Glenville. The plan calls for sprucing up the building and strengthening academics and adding career-technical programs that respond to demand in the job market.
- Consolidate East Tech, New Tech East, Jane Addams Business Careers Center and Washington Park Environmental Studies at East Tech. The plan will, among other things, combine a culinary program from Jane Addams and agriculture program at Washington Park with similar programs at East Tech. Students from East Tech will travel to Washington Park to use a greenhouse and other facilities, as will students from Rhodes School of Environmental Studies on the West Side.
- Move Whitney M. Young High School’s gifted and talented program to a new John F. Kennedy Campus that will open next school year.
- Phase out and close Design Lab Early College High School.
- Build a new Lincoln-West Campus, home to the Lincoln-West School of Global Studies and Lincoln-West School of Science and Health. The project will be part of continuing modernization program funded by the state and a local bond issue.
- Close four K-8 schools – Case, Iowa-Maple, Michael R. White and Willow.
- Consolidate two K-8 schools -- Clark and Walton – in a new building. The District also will build a new Marion C. Seltzer and renovate Joseph M. Gallagher.
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