CHUH Schools Should Reduce Number of School Buildings: Report

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH - The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Educational Services Department made recommendations on new grade configurations to the CHUH Board of Education on April 13. The recommendations focused on regrouping certain grades together in buildings.

The Department recommended that by 2019-2020, the CHUH School District reorganize its grades in the following way, the district says:

Superintendent Talisa Dixon, who served on the Department as it researched recommendations, asked the Board of Education to support the regrouping so that she could move forward with the project.

The CHUH School District faces a loss of students. Many school districts across Northeast Ohio are seeing their student populations decline due to a variety of factors including private and charter school enrollment increasing, and migration out of inner ring suburbs. The district is predicting the student population will continue to decline until at least 2026-2027.

As a result, none of the district's school buildings are being used to full capacity. For example, Canterbury Elementary School currently has 389 students and a capacity to house 525 students, meaning the building is 74 percent to capacity. Gearity Elementary School is only 47 percent to capacity, with 262 students in a building capable of housing 560.

Overall, the district has the capacity to support 8,951 students. There are currently 5,018 students in the district, meaning the district is only 56 percent to capacity. Many of the district's buildings have unused space, which is why the report suggested using only one intermediate, middle, and high school building.

The presentation the Department presented can be viewed by clicking here.

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