COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Columbus City Schools superintendent is recommending ten district buildings, including seven schools and two other educational facilities, close in the near future.
At a meeting Tuesday night, Columbus Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman presented her task force’s final recommendation, which will start being implemented by August 2025.
The final recommendation was one of nine developed by the task force.
During its presentation Tuesday, the task force said the closings and consolidations would be best carried out in three phases over multiple years. Among the recommendations are seven schools, two facilities, and one administrative location that would be closed.
The recommendations, as presented at Tuesday’s meeting, are:
Phase 1
- Close Broadleigh Elementary School; send students to Eastgate, East Columbus, and Fairmoor elementary schools.
- Close Fairwood Elementary School; send students to Ohio Avenue and Livingston elementary schools.
- Close Moler Elementary School; send students to Lincoln Park and Livingston elementary schools.
- Close Lindbergh Elementary School; send students to Binns, Burroughs, and West Mound elementary schools.
- Close West Broad Elementary School; send students to Westgate, Highland, and Valleyview elementary schools.
- Close North Linden Elementary; send students to Huy, Maize, Innins, and Northtowne elementary schools.
Phase 2
- Close Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys (old Eastmoor Middle School); send students to Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls.
- Close Buckeye Middle School; send students to Marion-Franklin High School to create a 6-12 grade school.
Phase 3
- Close the current Columbus Alternative High School (McGuffey) and move programming to East High School.
- Consolidate students in sixth grade from the South feeder pattern area for a 6-12 grade school at South High School.
- Linden-McKinley STEM Academy would be turned into a 6-12 grade school.
- Close the administrative building at 270 East State Street and move staff to 3700 South High Street administrative building.
Board members will now take the recommendations into the community for further feedback before taking a vote on whether to accept or reject the task force’s findings, board president Christina Vera said. The board did not vote on the recommendations.
The task force, consisting of 24 community and business leaders, started its work in February, holding multiple sessions, sometimes during early afternoon hours, to allow the public to weigh in on the process.
Prior to the task force presenting its recommendations, multiple residents spoke during the public comment period of the meeting, nearly all imploring the board to hold off on the school closures.
During her presentation, Chapman said the school district currently has too many buildings for its enrollment – 46,000 students and 113 buildings.
“We know that we have far too many buildings based on our current enrollment,” Chapman said. “As neighborhoods have shifted, this enrollment decline has left 48 elementary schools with enrollments fewer than 350 students with an average elementary school building utilization of 75 percent.” Chapman added that 20 secondary schools have fewer than 500 students.
Chapman said there needs to be at least a year of planning before the implementation of any approved plans.
“These changes will take time, they will not happen overnight,” Chapman said. “Certainly we will develop the timeline in collaboration with the Board of Education. Tonight, we are providing these recommendations for the board’s consideration and once the board takes a vote, and then we will begin to plan and map out the next steps for proceeding and actualizing these changes.”
During discussion, board members also echoed the need to take time to develop a timeline and plan moving forward.
Throughout the process, the task force has been the subject of controversy not related to its recommendations.
In April, Columbus Education Association President John Coneglio stepped down from the task force, saying the goals of the task force do not align with the goals of the teachers’ union.
Then, in May, a document that laid out how the board and the task force should take control of the narrative of the task force’s work was leaked to the public. One board member, Brandon Simmons, was eventually censured for drafting the document and removed from all of his board committee seats; Simmons maintains he is a scapegoat and that other board members participated in the drafting of the document.