Gadfly Bites 12/5/25—Before the vote and after the vote

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1. Before the upcoming board vote on the proposal, lots of folks have a lot to say about the plan to close and consolidate school buildings in Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Patrick O’Donnell and most of the folks he interviews characterize the proposal as the abandonment of a popular effort to create smaller, more specialized schools such as MC2STEM and the School of Science and Medicine that attract students with specific interests. (The 74, 12/5/25) Signal Cleveland interviewed 30 CMSD high school students, many of whom attend the impacted schools. “While adults have vented worries or pushed civic agendas,” reporter Franziska Wild writes, “student concerns about the plan — minus a few public comments — have been more muted… Signal Cleveland learned that students are less focused on the big picture reshaping of the district to save money and improve academic offerings and are more keyed in on the details that might impact their daily lives next year.” These include such issues as accessing extracurriculars, finishing out career training programs already underway, how class ranking might change, etc. Oh, and whether the combined student bodies will actually fit into the cafeteria at lunch time! So practical…and so easily addressed. (Signal Cleveland, 12/5/25) Journalist Wild also talked to a group of parents whose children all attend one school—Louisa May Alcott Elementary—and who are saddened that their building will likely be slated for closure and its 160-some students will be integrated with two other elementaries in a newer, better-equipped building. The nuances are many and interesting, but it seems clear that big picture decision-making is generally not equipped to grapple with such individual-level concerns. (Signal Cleveland, 12/2/25) As mayor Justin Bibb puts it in a TV ad now running in Cleveland, CMSD needs to find a way to save $150 million in the coming years to avoid state fiscal oversight or more. And the main issue is that the student population has been falling for years and nothing has been done to right-size the districts’ resources in response to that reality. “That means too many of our schools are half empty,” he tells his citizens, “and too many of our kids miss out on the basics, like algebra, computer tech, band, sports and college and career prep.” (Signal Cleveland, 12/4/25) The CMSD school board, all members appointed by the city’s mayor, votes Tuesday on the plan.
   
   

2. The board of Columbus City Schools—all members elected by the citizens of Columbus—voted earlier this week to approve a package of cuts to stave off their own budget shortfall—which impends for the same reasons as in Cleveland—although their plan focuses more on staff and programming to the almost total exclusion of building closures. After the vote, I wondered whether the incoming board members—replacing three lame ducks who all voted for the cuts—would even go along with what was decided here when they take office in January. The Dispatch wondered the same thing and sent reporter Cole Behrens to ask them. Honestly, I’m not sure he actually got a clear answer from any of them. (Columbus Dispatch, 12/5/25)
   
   

3. After the previous heavy-going, here’s a somewhat lighter story about how some Jewish day schools in Cleveland help their students prepare for the transition from middle school to high school. The effort sounds pretty comprehensive and laudably student focused to me, and it starts in sixth grade. Why? Because many of their graduates choose secular public schools for ninth grade and, as the school staffers interviewed put it as nicely as they can: It’s a whole different world of education that, for many kids, requires some new skills, especially around fitting in, advocating for personal needs, and maintaining identity. Nice. (Cleveland Jewish News, 12/3/25)
   
   

4. But that’s the only good news we’ve got today. Because, unless my research has missed something (and I hope that any reader who knows different will tell me if so), all three of these well-intentioned, highly-capitalized, and super cool academically-relevant community student support programs are open only to students attending traditional district schools—no charter or private or STEM or home schoolers need apply. Such as this engineering immersion program at Ohio State University’s Lima campus for middle schoolers… (Hometown Stations, 12/4/25) …and this Hour of Code event—including robotics and digital design as well as software coding—happening this Sunday at the Athens Meigs Educational Services Center… (WOUB-FM, Athens, 12/4/25) …and the SOLE Box initiative, a clever idea to combine the design challenge aspect of STEM education with sneaker culture for middle schoolers. This one particularly hurts because it is interesting and unusual and well-supported by a number of well-heeled Akron-area charitable foundations. (Akron Beacon Journal, 12/5/25) Again, I’m not 100 percent sure all these programs do actively keep charter school and other non-district students from participating, but a) all the media coverage references district students only, multiple times (which could be the whole problem), and b) there is no obvious indication inside or outside of the media coverage that any of them recruit or would accept choice students who happened to apply. I’d love to be wrong and would hope that any reader who knows for sure would prove me so. Until that time, though: Shame on all of you community-minded student supporters who either actively or passively exclude kids based on where they attend school.

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