Commentary on K-8 Cluster scenarios



Commentary on K-8 Cluster scenarios

This analysis is based on the same spreadsheet analysis as was Master Plan Update 17, i.e. an extrapolation through 2019 of the average annual enrollment survival ratio of each neighborhood since 2008, except that instead of using 10 academic neighborhoods as once defined by the School District, we are using the new 12-cluster model now being used by the District.

The School District has released no definitive plan or proposal and is not likely to do so until after the current round of community meetings concludes on Thursday June 19. However, the District currently is aiming for a Tuesday June 24 Board of Education vote on its proposal. Because of this short time frame, this analysis is based on implementation of every proposal for construction of a new or fully renovated school tendered in the District’s “Draft Scenarios for District School Facilities,” posted May 27 on the District Web site.

The Draft Scenarios in some cases suggest the option of building a new school but do not specify a size. In such cases, the BAC made an estimate of the size, based on the current enrollment.

Complete implementation of every Scenario may not occur, so this analysis is preliminary, designed to provide an idea of the impact of the District’s suggestions.

This analysis is being done without the benefit of demographic and other information underpinning the District’s cluster model, which the BAC has requested several times from the District since Nov. 12, 2013 (the latest on May 28, 2014) but has not received.

As can be seen below, the Draft Scenarios if fully implemented would leave some Clusters with significant excess capacity of new or fully renovated space: Lee-Miles, Central – Kinsman – Mt. Pleasant, Glenville – University – Fairfax, and Downtown – St. Clair-Superior – Hough. In many cases, the District offers economic redevelopment and/or the desire to attract students currently attending charter or parochial students as justification for the suggested construction.

Meanwhile, however, several Clusters would be left with significantly less new or fully renovated space than enrollment projections show they will be need by the year 2019: Kamm’s Corner – Bellaire-Puritas, Detroit-Shoreway – Edgewater – Cudell – West Blvd., Ohio City-Tremont, and Old Brooklyn – Brooklyn Center.

Cluster

1. Kamm’s Corner – Bellaire-Puritas. The Master Plan of 2010 would have left this cluster 911 student slots short of needed space. The draft scenario would reduce the shortage to 701, but that is still the equivalent of 1.5 schools. That’s largely because the District apparently wants to eliminate the Westropp replacement. No reason is given. The District also is suggesting to eliminate the McKinley replacement and instead “through a multi-year process” move McKinley students to Wilbur Wright, which is not in this cluster. The analysis removes the McKinley enrollment from this cluster’s enrollment; if it were kept in this cluster, the deficit of needed new/fully renovated slots would be 901. This analysis assumes that a new Newton Baker is built for 400 students, although the option of simply making repairs to the current building is also given in the Draft Scenarios. The District’s draft says: “There are opportunities to broaden Pre-K offerings and high quality choice options to attract younger students and former students to the District as the CMSD student capture rate is only 49% and one parochial school is not re-opening next year.”

2. Detroit-Shoreway – Edgewater – Cudell – West Blvd. Compared with the old Master Plan of 2010, which would have provided almost 1,400 too many seats in this neighborhood, the District Draft Sceniors would really take a whack out of this cluster, leaving it 735 seats short (treating McKinley as if it were in this cluster). District suggests moving McKinley and other students to Wilbur Wright, but not replacing or fully renovating Wright, effectively accounting for all of the shortage. The District also suggests merging Waverly and Watterson-Lake, eliminating 100 slots from the 2010 plan, and dropping the planned replacement of Joseph Gallagher, eliminating 720 slots. The District draft says: “The vision for schools in this cluster is to evenly locate schools throughout the cluster so that they can anchor the diverse residential neighborhoods. ... Because of this cluster’s high population density and significant number of young families, additional pre-K seats are needed to retain them.”

3. Ohio City – Tremont The Scenario suggests moving the Newcomers Academy from Thomas Jefferson to the currently underused new Paul Dunbar and offers the option of building a new Tremont for 550. The draft suggests eventually moving Luis Munoz Marin students, currently numbering 639, to Jefferson. These moves would create a shortage of 513 new or fully renovated seats in the cluster. The option given for Scranton, which currently has about 400 students, is simply to maintain it. The District’s draft says: “The vision for schools should be to offer a variety of high quality programs that retain and attract young families, as many families currently take advantage of a wide array of public, District-sponsored charters, other charter, parochial and private school offerings. A higher than average student capture rate of 57% indicates that offering high quality academic programs could attract students back to the District.”

4. Clark-Fulton – Stockyards Implementation of scenarios to move Marin students from outside the cluster to Jefferson and move the Newcomers Academy to the smaller and not fully used Dunbar, this plan puts the cluster on target for its need of new or fully renovated space, IF one accepts that Marin students can easily get to Jefferson. The District’s draft says: “There are opportunities to create a “dynamic place” on the southwest side of the City that builds a physical and virtual Hispanic Village. The vision for schools in this cluster is that they need to be located throughout the cluster and offer programs that appeal to young families.”

5. Old Brooklyn – Brooklyn Center Formerly known as the Rhodes neighborhood, the District’s Draft Scenario would leave the neighborhood 704 slots short of its need for new or fully renovated space. The Scenario would reduce the size of a new Denison to conform with its current enrollment but without explanation would also eliminate renovation of W.C. Bryant for 600 students. It would leave the well-attended Benjamin Franklin as a school to be maintained. The District suggests closing Mooney and perhaps sending its high school students to Rhodes, which is already filled over capacity. Where would they sit? The District’s draft says: “There is an opportunity to construct a new 450-seat school [W.R. Harper] in the cluster at a location of a now closed school, as there is a high population of school-age and pre-school age children in the cluster. The schools in this cluster tend to draw mainly from families living in this cluster, and community activities at or near the schools are robust. ... The CMSD student capture rate is a modest 48%, so there is an opportunity to attract more students.”

6. Broadway – Slavic Village The Draft Scenario would add a new Fullerton for 350 and delete a new Willow for 350, leaving the planned capacity of the cluster pretty much on target for new/fully renovated space. The District’s draft says: “For the first time since the recession and onset of the foreclosure crisis, new housing and major housing rehabilitation projects are underway. The schools in this cluster serve a large school-age population. In general, these families choose to attend a school in the cluster. ... The CMSD student capture rate is 61% and other school-age youth are served by a combination of parochial K-8 and high school and public charter schools. There is an opportunity to launch aggressive expansion of Pre-K slots in order to create better prepared cohorts for CMSD kindergarten classes.”

7. Lee-Miles The fully implemented Draft Scenario would leave Lee-Miles with 998 too many K-8 seats. CMSD has suggested eliminating a new Revere for 350, which is good because it has only 288 students, but adding a new Eliot with a new J.F. Kennedy High on a unified campus in Frederick Douglass Park. The District’s draft says: “School planning has been guided by the Ward 1 Comprehensive Master Plan completed in 2013. Concepts in the plan call for the schools to: help anchor residents in the neighborhood; attract new families to Ward 1; create a unified Pre-K – 12 Campus on the site of Frederick Douglass Park which will open up other District-owned land for redevelopment; ... create space for a new recreation center and the expansion of the Lee-Harvard Shopping Center; and expand Pre-K options to help create a pipeline of students ready for Kindergarten. This cluster has ... nine K-8 schools of which six were built new since 2006. Vision for the former Robert Jamison, Gracemount and Emile B. deSauze school sites is new housing. Current CMSD student capture rate is 60%. There is an opportunity to attract students back to the District from nearby charter schools.”

8. Central – Kinsman – Mt. Pleasant. Instead of trimming this cluster, which had been on track under the 2010 Plan to have 694 too many seats, the District Draft Scenario suggests adding a new Dike, leaving it with 954 too many new or fully renovated K-8 seats. The District draft says: “Three new schools were constructed since 2005, but others need to be replaced or renovated. ...There exist opportunities to build a new K-8 building in collaboration with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). A multi-block redevelopment plan developed by CMHA includes new subsidized and market-rate housing, a new library, expanded green space and parks. The District has a unique and timely opportunity to help refashion this plan by locating a school in its optimum location since site control is not an issue, and the District owns several large parcels in and adjacent to the plan area. The CMSD student capture rate for this cluster is 47%. There is an opportunity to improve educational offerings to attract returning CMSD students. An aggressive expansion of Pre-K seats in this cluster should be a priority.”

9. Buckeye – Shaker – Larchmere The Draft Scenario suggests moving the medically fragile students currently attending Sunbeam to a new, more centrally located school to be built on the site of the old Willson on East 55th St., abandoning the 2010 plan to build a new Buckeye-Woodland for 450 students, and building a new 500-student school on the Skyline Campus. Figuring that as many as half of the current Sunbeam students would stay in the neighborhood, the Scenario would result in excess capacity of about 240 slots, which, relatively speaking, is within a reasonable margin. The District draft says: “Civic leaders and several groups have come together to define a common vision for the residential, business and institutional districts of this cluster. A new school is a key investment that needs to be made as a part of a 20-acre redevelopment area near where CMSD operates a school, owns a closed building and a vacant former school site. The location of this cluster in one of the region's major job centers makes it a prime cluster to attract students to the District. Significant private, public and philanthropic funds have helped bring “bricks and mortar” investment to retail, housing, mixed, recreation, multi-modal transportation, infrastructure and institutional uses. The District’s investment would play a major role in linking these investments to residents.”

10. Glenville – University – Fairfax Instead of trimming this cluster, which had been on track under the 2010 Plan to have 914 too many seats, the District Draft Scenario suggests adding 700 more seats, for an excess capacity of 1,614 new/fully renovated student slots. Iowa-Maple and Bolton would each be replaced for 350 students on new sites. The main problem with planning for this cluster continues to be F.D. Roosevelt, which was fully renovated for 1,115 students but has only 426. The Scenario includes no suggestion for making more use of FDR. The District’s draft says: “In each of the neighborhoods there are comprehensive development plans that seek to brand the neighborhoods in different ways. The schools are a part of that brand. The extensive footprint of District-sponsored Charters in this cluster is an opportunity to promote quality school choice much more widely and more intentionally to families.”

11. Downtown – St. Clair-Superior _ Hough A new Case and the medically fragile program from Sunbeam are suggested as a dual use of the site of the former Willson on East 55th St. We are estimating here that the size of each would be 350 students. If so, the neighborhood’s excess capacity of new/fully nenovated space would be about 1,250 slots. This would be reduced if the Campus International K-8 enrollment were considered, but the Scenario calls for that program to be housed at Cleveland State University and the United Methodist Church at East 30th Street and Euclid Avenue. A problem here is that none of the District’s four schools already built or renovated in the cluster is being used to capacity. The District’s draft says: “There exists an opportunity for the District to invest strategically in these “up and coming neighborhoods” just east of downtown. The cluster's proximity to downtown and Lake Erie makes it attractive for young professionals and young families who desire urban living. The presence of quality schools will help with economic development and the continued population growth of this cluster.”

12. Collinwood – Euclid The only change for this cluster, which already has four new schools, is the suggested addition of a new O.H. Perry for 350 students, which would give the cluster excess capacity of 463 students. Perry lies in the only part of the cluster not currently served by a new school. The District’s draft says: “A neighborhood renaissance is underway in this traditionally working class neighborhood. Young professionals and small businesses are moving to this cluster to be close to Lake Erie, highways, job centers and affordable housing. ... The CMSD student capture rate is only 45% so there are opportunities to increase this.”

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