STRIKE--CMSD Board meeting brings out Teachers' Union

February 23, 2010

As expected--and botched two weeks, ago--Sanders and his Plain Dealer and corporate-sponsored handlers again retracted Tremont and Ginn from the "Transformation" Plan's death sentence. [1]  East High was "promised" to be reopened in 2011 as a charter school, if corporate support stepped in.

The District rolled out a revised list, which spares Tremont and Ginn at their current locatons,  and submitted the resolution language to adopt the plan, which will most likely be rushed to vote next week--at the CMSD District headquarters. 

The resolution refers to an Exhibit A and and Exhibit B--but the district AGAIN did not distribute the referenced materials.  A teacher also noted that the distributed Exhibit A does not include the fate of her school--Carl F. Schuler High School.  The District has never released the accounting to show how the proposed closings address the $53 million dollar shortfall.  Sanders noted yesterday that the savings would now amount to 16-17 million and not the 21 million originally estimated.  He offered no substantiation of these savings.

Five hundred angry taxpayers, parents, teachers and union representatives showed up at John Marshall High School (a landmarked building the District has slated for demolition).  A.G. Bell teachers lined up to protest the closing of their school and for the first time, a large, visible and vocal contigent of the Cleveland Teachers Union was present and a member implied a strike if this School Board approved the closings planned.  [2]

Several members of the audience addressed inconsistencies and errors in the criteria used to close schools and Councilman Jeffrey Johnson [3] again spoke out with passion against the three school closing in his ward.  He received thunderous applause and support, when he suggested that the CMSD school board should "repurpose" Sanders.

Councilmen Cimperman and Polensek were also present and addressed Sanders to thank him for sparing their schools. Notably, absent to defend his schools at this meeting was Councilman Brancatelli of Cleveland's Ward 3, who  has already rolled over on South High and has publicly stated that he will expedite the demolition of Albert B. Hart School.