In February, Columbus City Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman appointed the Community Task Force to consider how the district could streamline and cut costs by closing some buildings, and reconfigure programs. After study and a series of public meetings, the Task Force presented its recommendations for closures to the school board in June. Board president Christina Vera says the rapid-fire process then became more deliberative.
“As a board we decided that we wanted to be able to take those recommendations and spend some time in those communities. Really being able to connect with the schools, the leadership in those schools, students, parents, families…. Bringing in an outside equity consultant to help us create a process around how do we engage, recognizing that we were going to need support in the process.”
Consultant Dr. Terrance Green, a professor of education leadership and public policy at the University of Texas in Austin, has helped the board hone their criteria.
“…from facility conditions to operational costs, to staffing, to programmatic services, to enrollment numbers, to programs that students and families are asking for. There’s also things that relate to the vision, the ultimate vison that the superintendent has for the district as a whole.”
The nine schools proposed in June for closure remain the same:
Broadleigh, Lindberg, Moler, North Linden and West Broad elementary schools, Buckeye and Fairwood Alternative middle schools, the Columbus Preparatory Academy for Boys, and the McGuffey Road facility that currently houses the Columbus Alternative High School, which would move to shared space at East High School.
In October school board members toured the nine schools on the list, meeting with staff, students, and families. Vera says walking the halls and meeting the people who would be affected by the process has been important.
“So, it’s about looking at all possible offerings from facilities to programs, to services. Even from the infrastructure of how our buildings are one day to be built. So we’re talking about present facilities and future facilities that have not even been built yet.”
Vera won’t predict when she thinks the board will be [prepared] to vote on closures. But she says Superintendent Angela Chapman has indicated that it may take a year or two to work out the details of closures, which were originally projected to begin rolling out in August 2025
“…to really map out how students and families will be put into different school communities, transportation issues – there are a lot of different logistical pieces that will happen in that planning process. That will not happen in a vacuum. That will happen as a collective community, making sure that families are aware as to what’s happening, staff is aware as to what’s happening. When and if the board decides to make a decision on a closure, we’re looking at anywhere from one to two years before this would go into effect.”
Vera says staffing is a decision for the superintendent and her team, and school closures may lead to staff cuts. But she also notes that school districts across the country are scrambling for enough staff, and she says every effort will be made to reallocate existing staff.
Although the decision on new school closures could be months away, the board is prepared to move ahead on disposing of some properties that have been closed, sometimes for years. Thanks to the work of a new committee on resource management, the board is scheduled to vote tonight on demolishing some of those mothballed buildings. Several speakers at public events this spring suggested selling all the mothballed facilities could net enough money to forestall school closures. But Vera cautions that may not be the most effective strategy in the long run…..
“We don’t have as many as people think we do in terms of the vacant ones that are still in our portfolio…. Sometimes I know that the initial thought is ‘sell it’. That *is* a one-time investment back into the district, but if we can find a way to create something that our students and families actually need, or is that a way to partner with someone in the community in order to be able to provide more wrap around services for our students and families – it still serves an educational opportunity.”
The board will hold a special meeting this Thursday to discuss some of their findings and to hear from the public. The meeting will be held from 6-9pm at the South Administrative Building, 3700 S. High Street.
