Will Columbus close schools? Task force leaders hope board will act on recommendations

In October 2018, a Columbus City Schools facilities task force came back with recommendations to close five schools as enrollment continued to dwindle in the district.

The Columbus Board of Education then rejected those directions in November 2018 after the task force worked for six months on the plan. It took no further action on school closing decisions at the time.

Now, more than five years later, the leaders of the new facilities task force said they are confident the current school board will take action this time after it reviews recommendations they are to make by June.

Jim Negron, who co-chairs the task force, said he has spoken with school Superintendent Angela Chapman and board President Christina Vera. He said both offer a fresh perspective on how things stand. The school board selected Chapman in May 2023 to become superintendent. Vera was elected to the school board in 2021 and named president in January.

"They are highly motivated to take action," said Negron, who served on the previous task force and is president of Corna Kokosing Construction. "I believe in their leadership."

The other co-chair, Al Edmondson, a Near East Side barber and community leader, said he hopes the board considers the task force recommendations this year.

"Enrollment is down," he said. Columbus City Schools is the state's largest school district, with about 46,000 students, but enrollment peaked at 110,173 during the 1971-72 school year.

Edmondson, an East High School graduate, also said the task force should take the previous group’s recommendations into consideration.

In 2018, the school board voted 5-0 to take no action on the task force's recommendation to close Linden McKinley STEM Academy, and four others: Buckeye, Dominion and Mifflin middle schools and Siebert Elementary School.

Negron said that he doesn't think such a vote is going to be the case this time around.

"This leadership is highly motivated to have an impact on the district," he said.

Vera said she looks forward to hearing the task force's recommendations.

"The board of education will consider community feedback as part of decision-making process," Vera said.

Edmondson said the task force plans to hold town hall meetings with the community as it goes through the process. Those have not yet been scheduled.

Chapman told the school board Feb. 6 that there is no predetermined list of buildings to close or consolidate.

But school officials want to close buildings to reduce costs. Chapman said at the Jan. 23 board meeting that she wants to provide "more robust programming" to all students, and fewer buildings can help accomplish that.

"One of the things the superintendent talked about was realigning students for better outcomes, to be more successful," Edmondson said.

Chapman reported to school board members at that meeting that Columbus City Schools spends more on facilities maintenance per school than similar districts across the country: $544,000 per Columbus school building, compared to $459,000 nationally. The age of Columbus school buildings is likely a factor.

Negron said it is important that buildings have good heating, cooling and lighting to create an environment that will help students learn.

"Being in the building industry, when we enter a space, we react to architecture, lighting, space, a certain way," Negron said.

"Hospitals figured that out. Hospitals have a lot of windows. It helps healing. It also helps in the learning environment. We're creating an opportunity for the ideal learning environment," he said.

Negron also said students should have access to a wider array of academic facilities.

The school board approved the task force's 28 members — including three high school and two middle school students — at its Feb. 6 meeting.

Its mission is to make recommendations for closings and consolidations by June, with the district implementing the plan by August 2025.

The task force is to look at 14 measures when assessing school buildings, according to a Columbus schools policy, including age and condition; capacity; student enrollment trends; impact on socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity; relocation numbers for students who have to switch schools; and other factors.

Asked about whether he believes Columbus schools will gain enrollment again, Negron said he thought they could capitalize on the growth occuring throughout the region.

"It’s clear that something special is going on in Columbus right now," Negron said.

"If done properly, correctly, we can set a path that others aspire to look at and see results that Columbus will," Negron said. "We'd like to be a benchmarking example of urban school district in our country."

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus school closing task force hope board will take action