Which Columbus schools will close? Board to hear recommendations Tuesday

Columbus City Schools students, parents, teachers and staff should get a first look at what schools might be closed at a district board meeting Tuesday evening.

The board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. at the South Administrative Building, 3700 S. High St., Room 825. At the meeting it is scheduled to hear the initial recommendations on school consolidation from the Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force.

After the district successfully passed a nearly $100-million levy in November, district officials said it would close some of the 113 school buildings in the state's largest district, The Dispatch previously reported.

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.

The Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force was formed in early 2024 and includes nearly two dozen members of the public, parents and educational professionals.

The Dispatch will update this story with information from Tuesday's board meeting. See below for previous coverage on the topic.

Teacher's union head quits task force before recommendations

In late April, Columbus Education Association President John Coneglio, who heads the union representing more than 4,500 teachers and other educational professionals in the district, resigned from the task force, The Dispatch previously reported.

In an open letter to the district, Coneglio said that after six meetings of the Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force, it was evident to him that the "sole focus of the committee is solely on the mass closure of neighborhood schools and the further managed decline" of the district. He also said the task force lacked transparency and said the closures would disproportionately impact "disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities of color."

"Our Board of Education now has a unique opportunity to work with the community and build the district of the future, not return to the same failed policies of the past," Coneglio said in a statement. "It has become clear to me that the current Task Force is another iteration of previous failed attempts."

District says process has been transparent, open in engagement

In response to Coneglio, CCS emphasized it believed the process had been transparent and that "it’s important that we have representation from our labor partners, who represent so many of our employees."

"We believe our students, our teachers, and all of our staff must have access to the best curriculum, facilities, technology, and resources so they can be successful," the CCS response to Coneglio said. "That means focusing on our resources instead of spreading them out"

Russell Brown, the district's chief of strategy and performance, told The Dispatch last month that CCS wanted to make all of the data, including interactive databases, meeting summaries and presentations available to the public.

"Everybody can understand what we're looking at," Brown said.

Building capacity major consideration in recommendations

Brown said the biggest factor considered by the task force is building capacity and utilization.

While there are 113 CCS school buildings, not all of them are uniformly occupied, The Dispatch previously reported. In fact, some schools have utilization below 25% of their capacity, while enrollment at others is up to 120% of capacity. Utilization refers to the percentage used of a school building's capacity based on a four-year average of enrollment.

"If over half the kids in the building are picking to go somewhere, that's probably telling you something," Brown said. "Certainly people are choosing not to be there."

Beyond simply closing the buildings, Brown said, the district will also have options of having specialty schools inside of other schools, or combining schools.

Brown said he wanted to emphasize that May will be an opportunity for the public to interact on the recommendations before the board acts. Even then, he said, there will be a period of years while the district aims for a soft landing of potential closures.

"We look forward to hearing from people in this process, that this should be an ongoing dialogue with the community," Brown said. "It will take time, and we'll want to engage with the community as we implement (the new facilities plan)."

OSU professor: Make student learning 'North Star' in closing process

Vladimir Kogan, an Ohio State University political science professor, urged CCS board members last month during a meeting to make student learning the guiding principal, or "North Star," of district facilities and potential closures.

Kogan: Flawed work to close city schools will hurt Columbus for years to come. It must be fixed.

Kogan noted that from his research he found that CCS has 30 more schools than the average among to districts of similar size, educating students of comparable racial diversity and economic disadvantage. He also said that that the district teaching workforce has increased 26% over the past decade and spends nearly $26,000 a year per student.

During the board meeting, Kogan said consolidation can either hurt or help the district, depending on whether it is focused on student outcomes. He said that the four factors considered (student enrollment, building utilization, building condition, and student transfer rates) have nothing to do with student learning.

"For too long, our district has operated mostly as an adult employment agency and a real estate holding company," Kogan said. "I hope you don’t repeat those mistakes this spring."

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City Schools closure recommendations expected Tuesday