CINCINNATI — Weeks after Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge criticized Dohn Community High School officials for doing nothing about youth violence downtown, school officials are grappling with how best to tackle their issues surrounding student transportation.
Theetge called the school out during a Feb. 6 address to Cincinnati city council.
Dohn Community High School's superintendent, Ramone Davenport, said school officials weren't aware of the meeting between Theetge and city council ahead of time; if they'd known, Davenport said officials would have been there.
"I think about that comment all the time, and I just don't understand why that comment was made," said Davenport on Thursday.
The crux of Dohn's issue is transportation; they bought 15 purple buses from Metro in 2023, but now the state says those buses are not up to standard to transport students.
The Department of Education & Workforce sent a letter to Davenport on Oct. 25 telling them to stop using the buses to transport students. The letter says in part:
“You are reminded that vehicles originally designed for more than nine passengers must be a “yellow school bus” and meet all Ohio construction and operation standards and laws if they are used for transportation of students,” to or from school or a school function.
"We reached out to a state legislature about looking into trying to change the law a little bit, because it just makes no sense," said Davenport.
Since that plan didn't work out, Dohn students have been forced to use Metro services. Those buses drop them off downtown at Government Square, which is what Theetge pointed to as contributing to youth violence in the area.
"We've been sending extra security down, you know, some teachers are going down," said Davenport. "We're trying to get everybody involved now."
Ultimately, Davenport said Dohn will have its own transportation next school year — rolling out changes now would likely cause more trouble for parents and students.
"We don't want to put any extra stress on the parents, so I say we'll go ahead and devise a solid plan going into next school year and then we'll be ready, whether that's the purple buses or whether that's the yellow buses," said Davenport.
School officials will meet with the city manager's office before March 15 to discuss how the city may be able to help.
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