CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Board of Education announced the proposal for Cincinnati Public School's Phase 2 redistricting plan, which will impact thousands of students at nearly 30 different schools.
The proposed Phase 2 plan, which would be implemented in 2025, would move students to launch six new middle schools within the district.
At Monday night's school board meeting, parents and educators raised concerns about the plan for Woodford Academy. The plan would send 7th and 8th grade students from Clark Montessori High School to Woodford Academy. This means Woodford Academy would lose its magnet school status and become a Montessori middle school. The change would also send previous students from Woodford to Silverton Elementary.
"No school is going to provide them the community they need at Woodford," one CPS parent said Monday. "We have fantastic teachers for the deaf at Woodford."
Eve Bolton, board president, said the proposed plan is a necessary change.
"We are obligated as a public school system to offer the programs that the public wants and that the public is paying for," Bolton said. "And the reality is we've had to turn away as a public system, people that want our services. We cannot continue to do that as a public school system."
The board says this phase plan has been in the works for a little over five years. The goal is to address overcrowding at area high schools and balance enrollment at elementary schools across the district.
"This is also about finances because we're going to be before the public in the next five years or six years, asking for as many as three times additional funds from the public. It's been eight years since we've gotten additional funds," Bolton said.
District officials say the goal is to come up with the most equitable and sustainable programming and transportation costs for CPS schools. This plan will implement redistricting changes for schools in the central, west and east corridors.
"Woodford is being asked to divide and disseminate when other overcrowded schools are not. And I think that, that's digging up some hurt from past decisions that have impacted the neighborhood," said Kate Mock Elliot, a CPS parent.
The board will hear more public comments on the Phase 2 plan during its meeting, on Monday, Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m.
