Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Former Mercy High Needs New Name, Principal, Under CPS

Bill Rinehart
/
WVXU
School board members meet this evening at 2651 Burnet Avenue.

Remodeling is already underway at the old Mercy High School in order to have it ready for students from Cincinnati Public this fall. At Monday night's meeting, Cincinnati Public School board members will hear some of the operational recommendations by the superintendent. Board President Carolyn Jones says the discussion could include a new name.

"That is one area we have not talked about. I think we need to at least put it on the table. We've been referencing it as the Mercy Westside campus, but a formal name has not been decided yet," she says.

Other decisions include which CPS students will attend the new school, and who will be principal. "That's one of the reasons why our timeline needs to be very proactive. That's a very detailed and intensive process in and of itself, to get the right principal in there. And then the principal has to be able to be in place to be able to hire the other staff."

Jones says at the previous meeting, the board asked Superintendent Laura Mitchell to deliver recommendations to address capacity. Between 2013 and 2017, the district's enrollment increased by 15 percent, from 29,959 students to 34,421. The district also made plans to reopen a school in Clifton.

"Let's nail this thing down. Let's move forward. In whatever direction we decide to take this, we need to make a decision so the district can move on it."

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the district headquarters on Burnet Avenue.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.