Just over a dozen people came to Western Hills High School on Wednesday morning for the first of a series of town halls hosted by Cincinnati Public Schools in school facilities and online.
The meetings are intended to gather feedback on the district's proposed strategic plan and offer open discussion about the needs of students and educators now and in the future.
The district's administration and Board of Education have been working to shape the plan for the past few months and are presenting a draft proposal to the community this week during the town halls.
The proposed plan primarily focuses on providing staff with more relevant training to boost classroom outcomes and help them build stronger relationships with students. The district also wants to better prepare its high school students for life after graduation by guiding them toward higher education or early career opportunities.
Most of the people at Wednesday's town hall were current CPS employees. Many of them said they liked the ideas in the plan, but questioned how the school district would be able to follow through on its promises by the self-imposed 2030 deadline with fewer financial resources.
Just a few weeks ago, the Board of Education voted to cut more than 100 jobs district-wide in an effort to reduce its spending by millions. Included in those cuts were a dozen social worker positions, eight counselor positions, and 10 assistant principal positions. The district still needs to cut about $40 million more to balance its budget for the upcoming school year.
Drisana Garlington is a counselor at Western Hills. During the town hall, she pressed the district on how it intends to get results as schools make do with fewer staff members. She felt her school was making strides in recent years, but worries that progress will be halted as CPS cuts back.
"It's going to be significantly (more) difficult this year," Garlington told WVXU. "We'll be down three people from our support staff."
Garlington and other staff in attendance said they wanted to hear more specifics about how the district intends to provide additional support when it has less money to spend.
"There was no good answer in anything that was written or said on how we're going to follow through with making any of these promises happen," she said. "And that's really unfortunate because I think that's why a lot of us came here today."
Substitute teacher Al Tyree agrees. He says the proposed changes can make a difference in the city's schools, but without more revenue, he's not sure it can actually happen.
"Ultimately, to really make it extremely successful, it's going to have to be funded," Tyree said. "The foundation has got to be there from a financial perspective to make this plan really work."
Cincinnati Public Schools is considering a new levy for the November ballot to pull in much-needed revenue in 2027, but some school board members have expressed skepticism about the request and are questioning whether voters will support an additional tax.
Cincinnati voters have historically supported school levies. Tyree says he hopes that will be the case again this fall.
"I'm not necessarily excited about seeing my property taxes go up, but I also realize that a strong community is based upon the educational system that's in that community," he told WVXU.
The Board of Education has until early Aug. to decide whether to move forward with a levy.
Parents and community members will have two more opportunities to join the conversation later this week:
- Thursday, July 9, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in the small theater or library at the School for Creative and Performing Arts
- Friday, July 10, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. via Zoom and Facebook.
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