Cleveland Metropolitan School District recently announced a new slate of opportunities for CMSD parents, students and community members to meet with new CEO Warren Morgan and provide feedback on the direction of the district.
Next week and in the coming month, there will be two large town hall-style meetings along with seven "coffee and conversation" events at local businesses.
Morgan wants to hear from the community to better understand the district, according to the CMSD. The town hall meetings will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 at Near West Theatre in Gordon Square and September 28 at the Friendly Inn Settlement in Central. The district is asking participants to preregister on its website.
Meanwhile, the coffee and conversation events are set from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the following locations and dates:
- August 29: Unbar - 12635 Larchmere Blvd. 44120
- September 1: Third Space Action Lab - 1464 East 105th St. #302 44106
- September 13: Rumi's Market and Turkish Grill - 8225 Carnegie Ave. 44103
- September 20: Q's Cafe - 3954 Lee Road 44128
- September 22: La Plaza Supermarket - 13609 Lakewood Heights Blvd. 44107
- September 26: Ready Set Coffee Roasters - 7306 Detroit Ave. Suite 101 44102
- September 29: The Bake Shop & Cafe - 3615 Superior Ave. 44114
During a CMSD Board of Education meeting this week, Morgan in a brief presentation outlined a roadmap for community engagement and synthesizing that into policy, which includes creating new advisory groups for students, teachers, school leaders, parents and community members.
Morgan in the presentation noted he's already analyzed some data showing the strengths and weaknesses of the district. Across the board, he said the district has seen significantly low academic performance since the pandemic and large achievement gaps between white students and Black and brown students. Meanwhile, enrollment continues to drop and the district struggles with low graduation rates and chronic absenteeism.
However, he also highlighted some high points, including that upper-grade level students are outpacing the state in terms of recovery of English language arts scores since the pandemic, as well as in upper-grade level math. Plus, he said CMSD still has strong community partnerships — like Say Yes Cleveland — that provide wrap-around support and other needed help for students.
Morgan also said he's landed on several picks for his executive leadership team. Karen Thompson, formerly chief of staff to the CEO, is now the senior chief of district operations; Trent Mosley, previously the district's chief strategic implementation officer, will be Morgan's senior chief of equity and culture; and Kevin Stockdale, who was the chief fiscal officer for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for eight years, will be the district's chief financial officer.
