The Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education approved cutting the jobs of more than 300 teachers, administrators and others Tuesday despite protests inside and outside the board room.
The board ended up recessing halfway through the meeting, before getting to the layoff resolutions, as the crowd loudly chanted "Let them speak," referring to about two dozen student protesters who held signs demanding the board not layoff their teachers. The board came back and moved to approve the layoffs, without discussion, as the audience continued to chant, boo and interrupt the meeting.
In total, the board approved layoffs for 278 educators in the Cleveland Teachers Union and did not renew the contracts of 35 administrators who work at school buildings. DMSD has argued it needs to cut staff as it consolidate schools, closing 29 schools in the fall. The district has lost half its students since the early 2000s. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan said Tuesday the layoffs and closures are are tough but necessary decisions.
"If we don't take these measures, we would enter into a fiscal precaution again in the fall," Morgan said, noting that the state would ask the district to cut its budget regardless of whether it was under state oversight. "And so this takes us through 2029. And guess what? We still have more work to do after that."
Morgan was referring to a forecast showing the district almost $50 million in the red by the end of the 2028-2029 fiscal year, even with the cuts the district is currently pursuing.
More layoffs are still to come. Morgan has said the district is seeking to reduce its full-time staff by 410 people, although that could increase or decrease depending on staff retiring or voluntarily leaving. He said another $15 million will be cut from the district's central office to avert the 2028-2029 fiscal crisis, although he didn't expressly identify what would be cut.
CMSD leaders have come under fire in recent years for high spending on administrators, raises given to them last year and spending on consultants.
Morgan said CMSD is planning to layoff a total of 86 administrators who work both at the district’s central office and at individual school buildings. The presentation on the layoffs included in the board's Tuesday agenda noted CMSD has shed 70 central office positions since 2024. Prior to that, there hadn't been any central office layoffs since 2011, according to the presentation.
Teachers, students speak out
Campus International Teacher Mika Job, who said she received her layoff notice on Friday, shouted across the crowded auditorium at Arnold Pinkney East Professional Center during the board meeting, calling on the board to let students speak. The board did not schedule on opportunity for public comment for the meeting.
"I love the kids because the kids are not just our future, they are our present," she said. "And if we are not being present with them, they can't be the strong members of the future that we need."
Dozens of students walked out of Campus International School in Cleveland Tuesday to protest the layoffs.
Campus International middle schooler Brooklynn Lawson said the district is cutting beloved teachers who made a big impact on her and other students.
"When our teachers get laid off, it also affects us, not just the adults," Brooklynn said. "Like the adults aren't just losing a co-worker, we're losing the teachers we have built connections with, talked to during recess, come to when we had our own problems, you know?"
Katie Fulton, a CMSD teacher who teaches reading to at-risk students at local Catholic schools through federal Title I funds, said she also received a layoff notice. She said she and many other teachers are feeling fear, frustration and anger.
"I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills," Fulton said.
She implored district leaders to find a different way to cut the budget.
"I don't think that cutting teachers who work with students and cutting paraprofessionals and cutting nurses and cutting people who are actually helping our kids is the way that we should go about saving money," she said.
