The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education will decide Monday evening whether the district will embark on a large-scale shuffle to make way for middle schools. If the proposed plan goes through, anywhere from 8,000 to 15,000 students could be impacted, officials say.
But there’s also a chance only parts of the plan will be approved.
The board has entertained a major restructuring proposal over the last several months. But several board members have concerns, and instead of voting on the plan in its entirety, the board has requested that the administration break it up into pieces for the board to vote on line by line.
It’s unclear how the plan will be broken up for voting purposes.
Restructuring for middle schools:Cincinnati school board takes hard look at plan ahead of vote
What is the Cincinnati Public Schools growth plan?
The first phase of the plan was already implemented at the start of this school year.
The district’s first middle school, Shroder Middle School, opened this fall for seventh and eighth-graders at the former Dr. O’dell Owens Center for Learning on Desmond Street in Madisonville. That meant the district shuffled students who went to the Dr. O’dell Owens Center to the former Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students building in Walnut Hills, and kids who went to the Spencer Center to the first floor of Riverview East Academy on Kellogg Avenue.
Spencer Center classes will occupy the entire building on Kellogg Avenue starting in the 2025-26 school year, according to the district’s website. Students in kindergarten through eighth grade who went to Riverview East Academy are now attending Mount Washington School on Mears Avenue, and students in grades 9-12 are still at Riverview East this school year, on the second floor. High schoolers enrolled at Riverview will go to their neighborhood school or enter the district’s lottery for next school year.
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Here’s an overview of the rest of the proposal and what could come next, as outlined on the district’s website. The plan suggests splitting the district into three corridors with several different schooling options available in each geographic region of the city:
West Corridor
- Carson School: This building would continue to serve kids in preschool through sixth grade.
- A new junior high school at the current Ethel M. Taylor Academy: For kids in seventh and eighth grades.
- Gilbert A. Dater High School: Gilbert would remain a school for kids in seventh through 12th grades.
- LEAP Academy: This school would expand to serve kids in preschool through eighth grade.
- Rees E. Price Academy: This school would expand to serve kids in preschool through eighth grade.
- Roll Hill School: This would remain a building for kids in preschool through sixth grade. Kids currently at Ethel M. Taylor Academy would go here.
- Sayler Park School: This building would house students in preschool through 12th grade. The school would offer an early college program, JROTC Air Force or Navy or a Coast Guard program.
- Western Hills University High School: This building would house kids in grades 9-12. Right now, Western Hills has kids in seventh and eighth grades, too.
Central Corridor
- Aiken High School: This building would house kids in grades 9-12. Right now, Aiken has kids in seventh and eighth grades, too.
- Bond Hill Academy: This would remain a school for kids in preschool through sixth grade.
- Chase School: Chase would expand to serve students in preschool through eighth grade.
- A new middle school at the current Hartwell School: For kids in fifth through eighth grades.
- Hays-Porter School: For kids in preschool through fifth grade. Students currently at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy would go here.
- Hughes STEM High School: This building would house students in grades 9-12. Right now, Hughes has seventh and eighth-graders, too.
- Mount Airy School: For students in preschool through fifth grade.
- A new middle school at the current Pleasant Hill Academy: For students in sixth through eighth grades who are currently enrolled at Pleasant Hill Academy, College Hill Academy and Winton Hills Academy and seventh and eighth grade students currently enrolled at Aiken High School.
- Rising Stars at Carthage: This would become an elementary school for students in kindergarten to fourth grade. Kids currently enrolled at Hartwell would go here.
- Rockdale Academy: This school would serve students in preschool through fifth grade. Students currently at South Avondale School would go here.
- Rothenberg Preparatory Academy: This would become a neighborhood Montessori school for elementary students.
- A new middle school at the current South Avondale School: For kids in sixth through eighth grades. Kids previously enrolled at Frederick Douglass School, Rockdale Academy, Hays-Porter School and seventh and eighth graders at Hughes and Woodward would go here.
- William H. Taft Elementary School: This would become a neighborhood school for kids in preschool through sixth grade. Students currently at Rising Stars at Vine would go here.
- Woodward Career Technical High School: This building would house students in grades 9-12. Right now, Woodward has seventh and eighth-graders, too.
East Corridor
- Academy of World Languages: This school would continue to serve students in preschool through eighth grade.
- Clark Montessori High School: This building would house students in grades 9-12. Right now, Clark has seventh and eighth-graders, too.
- Frederick Douglass School: This school would continue to house students in preschool through fifth grade. Right now it also has sixth graders. Students at Evanston Academy, which would turn into the district’s junior high school for the east corridor, would go to Frederick Douglass instead.
- John P. Parker School: This school would continue to house students in preschool through sixth grade.
- A new junior high school at the current Evanston Academy building: For students in seventh and eighth grades.
- Shroder Middle School: This is the district’s first middle school, which opened this school year. It serves seventh and eighth-graders.
- Withrow University High School: This building would house students in grades 9-12. Right now, Withrow has seventh and eighth-graders, too.
- A new Montessori middle school at the current Woodford Academy building: Students currently enrolled at Clark Montessori High School and those matriculating from an east corridor Montessori elementary school would go here.
There would still be the School for Creative and Performing Arts for kids in K-12 and an expanded Zoo Academy, which kids would have access to via the districtwide lottery system.
Part of the second phase includes opening The Wrap at Rising Stars at Vine. The Wrap would provide services and support to students and families including emergency assistance, health and wellness, financial assistance and counseling, legal support, social services, technology help and housing assistance.
Additional details on the plan and its mission can be found online.
Board to meet Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Board members have been split on the growth plan and at least one member, Kendra Mapp, said last week that she would not vote on the changes at all.
Montessori learning:Cincinnati parents, teachers oppose district’s proposed changes
“While I think that there are maybe great recommendations, I do have concern, great concern, with the process and fidelity of the plan being implemented,” Mapp said during a special board meeting on Dec. 2. “So I will not be taking part in the vote.”
The board will vote on the growth plan at a regular board business meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Mary A. Ronan Education Center, located at 2651 Burnet Ave. The meeting will also be streamed online.
