Cleveland Metropolitan School District sent a letter home to the parents of students at Walton School in early December informing them that the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade building will be closed and combined with Clark K-8 School starting in August 2025.
While the district initially approved the consolidation plans for the two West Side schools in 2019, the Cleveland Teachers Union in a statement Wednesday said it was caught off guard by the announcement of the consolidation happening a year sooner than previously thought.
“The members of the Cleveland Teachers Union were surprised to learn of the accelerated timeline of the new Clark construction and disappointed that district leadership chose to share this information through a letter home to parents, as opposed to first sharing such important information directly with staff and union leadership," Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski wrote. "Timely communication and collaboration with all stakeholders is important to ensuring smooth transitions of any kind. We know that many changes are likely over the next few years and hope the district will prioritize this communication and collaboration moving forward.”
A headline on the CMSD website directing to a page on construction updates, also suggests the building would be complete in 2026, although the landing page does have documents going back to May 2024 noting the building project would now complete by fall 2025.
The project to rebuild Clark is part of the district's "Segment 8" construction project, meant to refresh and consolidate buildings, according to a copy of the plan approved by the board in 2019 that a district spokesperson provided Wednesday. The school district is also finishing up renovations to Joseph M. Gallagher, another kindergarten-through-eighth grade building on the West Side.
Both Clark and Joseph M. Gallagher are near Walton and will provide a good choice for parents looking for where to send their children next, Walton Principal Aaron Hall said in the Dec. 5 letter sent home to parents.
"When the dust has settled and we are all moved in, it will be wonderful to have a new school that will enhance the talents and aspirations of all our scholars," Hall said of the new Clark school.
Parents can also choose to send their children to any other schools, Hall noted, due to CMSD's status as an open-enrollment school district; however, the district's "School Choice" portal is only open through December 20, he added.
CMSD is projecting serious budget challenges in the near future, which could hasten further decisions on consolidating or closing schools in the coming years.
Many school buildings across the city have low enrollment, district records show; Walton was about 39% full last school year, with 247 students. The students at Clark school have been relocated to a temporary school site nearby while the construction project is happening on the site of the old building; the temporary site is almost at the maximum capacity, about 96% full, records show.
