In 2012, I visited Cleveland and took a tour of the school districts in and around the city. I was escorted by Jan Resseger, a knowledgeable social justice advocate. She drove me through the plush suburban districts, then took me to East Cleveland, where there were numerous abandoned buildings and empty lots. East Cleveland had once been a prosperous suburban, but in the 1970s, the once affluent area began to lose jobs and population and its tax base, then fell into disrepair and decay. Because of its low test scores, the state of Ohio wants to takeover the district. This article about the district was written by Robert Brownlee, who grew up in East Cleveland, attended its public schools, and spent his career in its public schools. He hits the nail on the head: The state takeover will do nothing to address the root causes of low academic achievement.

East Cleveland schools are currently in the process of being taken over by the state of Ohio due to poor performance on various measures of student achievement. I grew up in East Cleveland and attended Rozelle Elementary School, the old Kirk Junior High School, and Shaw High School. I returned to East Cleveland as a curriculum specialist/administrator in 1990 and remained there until my retirement. As a resident and educator, I have witnessed substantial changes both in the city and the schools. Such changes, in an older suburban city, have been accompanied by rising poverty, deteriorating housing, and now a pending state takeover of its schools.

When we think in terms of the obvious differences between these East Cleveland neighborhoods and those where students perform well on state tests, it is clear that the neighborhoods and conditions in which students live have a direct impact on their learning in school. The research is available that highlights the effects of such living conditions on the brains of young people. In addition to the obvious physical conditions of the neighborhoods in which students live, they must also contend with the results of poverty itself that affect cognitive and emotional development, especially as young people experience poor nutrition, stressful living conditions, and urban blight.

Rather than resorting to a state takeover of districts such as East Cleveland, we must all take a closer look at the neighborhoods and the attendant poverty that impact the lives and learning of young people!

Bill Phillis reports on the latest community effort to block privatization in East Cleveland:


East Cleveland Schools HB 70 state takeover lawsuit transferred to Franklin County

The East Cleveland Board of Education sued the Ohio Department of Education in an attempt to stop the takeover of the District pursuant to HB 70 of the 131st General Assembly. The case has been transferred from Cuyahoga County to Franklin County. The Board claims the state’s takeover process is unconstitutional and has asked for a temporary restraining order.

HB 70 has wreaked havoc on Youngstown and Lorain Schools and their respective communities. Putting school districts in the hands of a czar appointed by an appointed board is just plain wrong. It is just another form of privatization.

“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
– John Adams, September 10, 1785

William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org