Columbus school board names 28 to task force to help decide school closings, consolidations

Mark Ferenchik, Columbus Dispatch
Updated ·4 min read
(From left to right) Columbus school board member Sarah Ingles, board Vice President Tina Pierce and board President Christina Vera at the Feb. 6, 2024, Columbus school board meeting.
(From left to right) Columbus school board member Sarah Ingles, board Vice President Tina Pierce and board President Christina Vera at the Feb. 6, 2024, Columbus school board meeting.

The Columbus Board of Education has appointed 28 people to a community task force that will make recommendations to the board in four months on which schools to close and consolidate.

Those appointed to the task force represent a cross-section of the community, and include the president of the Columbus teachers union, religious leaders, a Near East Side barber and community leader, representatives of Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew Ginther, five students and even some nonresidents of the district.

The task force members the school board approved during its Tuesday meeting, in alphabetical order by last name, are:

  • Lois Carson, Classified School Employees Association / Ohio Association of Public School Employees

  • John Coneglio, president, Columbus Education Association

  • Olivia Doggett Columbus City Schools parent

  • Al Edmondson, Making a Difference, Inc.

  • Yaves Ellis, New Birth Christian Ministries

  • John Gregory, Equity Now Coalition

  • Rev. Kevin Hairston, Living World Bible Fellowship

  • Donald Jackson, Columbus Schools Classified Supervisors Association

  • John R. Kellogg Columbus State Community College/ESC

  • Amanuel Merdassa, Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services

  • Jim Negron, Corna Kokosing Construction

  • Bertha Obayuwana, Columbus City Schools parent

  • Rev. Kevin Orr, Glenwood United Methodist Church

  • Johnny Pitts, Pitts Insurance Agency

  • Chris Potts, director of facility planning at Ohio State University

  • Aslyne Rodriguez, director, Regional Strategic Partnerships

  • Kim Rodriguez, Columbus Administrators Association

  • Gina Shimer, Columbus City Schools, family ambassador, Binns Elementary School

  • Matt Smydo, city of Columbus mayor's office, Department of Education

  • Richard Studer, Rotary Club of Columbus

  • John Tannous, Columbus City Council, senior policy adviser

  • Kenneth Wilson, Local 581, Safety & Security

  • David Wellborn, Franklin County

Students from three high schools and two middle schools also will be on the task force, whose first meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 13. The district will be launching a website with task force information, including meeting minutes.

Superintendent Angela Chapman told the board that there is no predetermined list of buildings to close or consolidate.

"This is always a tough decision, but this is a decision we need to consider and move forward with," Chapman said.

School board member Brandon Simmons noted that some of the task force members don't live in the district. "Do they have the necessary care to make the best decisions?" he asked.

"That's a perspective we should consider," Chapman replied. Residency was not a sole consideration in determining the task force membership, she said.

After the board meeting was over, Chapman left the meeting room at the school district's Southland Center on the South Side before The Dispatch could ask her questions about how the task force membership was determined. Through a school district spokeswoman, Chapman later said that board members played a role in suggesting names for the task force.

A report that Chapman presented on Jan. 23 to the board said that consolidating the district's 113 school buildings will reduce costs. Nearly half, or 47% of Columbus City schools, have not had any major renovations in more than 50 years.

The report said 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 — with the age of Columbus school buildings likely a factor.

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.

In December, the board approved a $506,520 contract with Slightlines LLC, a Connecticut company that will evaluate conditions at the district's schools to help officials decide which buildings might close and which ones to repair and upgrade.

The district said that the draft and final reports will be made available to the community through the district's web page for feedback before the board’s final vote.

Al Edmondson, the barber and Near East Side leader who was named one of the task force members, said one reason he wanted to serve was because he wants to make sure the school board has the best interest of the students when making decisions.

Edmondson, a 1986 East High School graduate, said he'd like to see some schools consolidate because some have a small numbers of students.

"It would be great for schools to provide resources for the kids, help them graduate," he said.

The task force is to make recommendations to the school board by June. School officials are to implement final decisions by August 2025.

A citizens task force did similar work in 2018, working for six months on a plan to close under-enrolled schools. But the Columbus Board of Education voted in November 2018 to ignore that group's recommendations to close Linden-McKinley High School and four other buildings.

That marked the second time in just more than two years that the board has ignored recommendations from a task force on what to do with aging buildings.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus school board names 28 to task force on school closings