Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon provided an update Wednesday on safety protocols – both with regard to COVID-19 and building safety – as the district prepares to welcome roughly 35,600 students in its fall session.
Gordon, during a “convocation” to welcome staff back to the school year, said the school district invested more than $1 million over the summer in upgrading and repairing cameras throughout buildings, in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting. Plus, the school district recently received a $1.6 million grant from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s Ohio K-12 School Safety Grant program that will be used to “continue to improve locks and P.A. systems and other things of that nature.”
The school district also announced it now has a full-time school safety officer in all but two school buildings (the other two will have part-time officers present).
Gordon said the district already “hardened” its schools in the wake of a shooting at one of its buildings in 2007, which means most buildings already have metal detectors.
Meanwhile, the school district is loosening some of its COVID-19 protocols as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention similarly announced relaxed guidelines last week. Masks will continue to be recommended instead of required, social distancing will not be required and there won’t be mandatory temperature checks.
“Although not required, we don't want kids and adults fighting over masks, and we want to start strong with our schools, but we are recommending masks,” Gordon said. “We do want everyone to report their cases to our COVID hotline so that our trained nurses can give guidance about any quarantining or isolating that needs to be done.”
That hotline is (216) 838-WELL. The school district will also continue weekly volunteer PCR testing for students and adults.
Shari Obrenski, head of the Cleveland Teachers Union, said during the convocation that the school district also now has a full-time school health professional in each school building.
CMSD received the largest amount of any school district in Ohio from the governor's school safety fund. Akron Public Schools, another large northeast Ohio school district, received $650,000 spread across 13 schools.
