Contention at Columbus board meeting on building closures

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The Columbus City Schools Board held a special meeting Thursday to discuss the nine schools that are marked for closure or merger.

School board president Christina Vera said the meeting was the start of a very long process and it was an opportunity for interactive conversation with the public.

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The meeting was the first the board has held since taking tours of the nine schools that could be closed or consolidated. Those schools include middle schools and elementary schools.

The district said closing the schools would save up to $9 million a year.

At the meeting, the board was guided through how to break down what they saw in each school by educational expert and consultant Dr. Terrence Greene.

Board members participated in communication exercises on how each member can appropriately lay out their analysis from each school visit.

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At one point, some board members got into a heated debate with Greene.

"I can understand the frustration, I mean, I think it's hard when, you know, you're not really understanding the process and they don't have the information to really be able to engage," Vera said.

Some parents like Susan Cavendish were not pleased with the approach of the discussion, inferring it makes the process even more muddled.

"The format was atrocious," Cavendish said. "No offense to any of the presenters, they were wonderful, they're very intelligent, educated people, obviously. Obviously, people had miscommunicated. They had one idea of what they were supposed to be doing here. Board members had a different idea. Parents had a different idea. I found myself dozing off."

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The board did not hold any decisive votes Thursday and more meetings with public input are to come.

"I want people to know that we really are taking our time," Vera said. "I recognize that, you know, this is a big decision, this is not something that we take lightly. These are school communities, these are students and staff, these are communities. So for us, it's about learning what we need to learn as a board to ensure that the decisions we're making, our decisions that we can stand behind."

The board's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 19.