Cleveland Metropolitan School District officials reviewed the administration's Building Brighter Futures recommendation and took public comment as they prepare for a Dec. 9 board vote.

CEO Warren Morgan said the plan responds to decades of enrollment decline and aims to reduce the district's footprint while expanding academic and extracurricular opportunities. He told the board the proposal would result in 18 buildings taken offline, 29 fewer schools through 39 total mergers and moves, and program changes intended to give 100% of impacted students access to expanded coursework and supports. The administration projects roughly $30 million in recurring savings per year and early estimates in the plan package include $36 million in programmatic savings, $1'$2 million in lease/utility savings, and about $7 million in one-time implementation costs.

Parents, labor leaders and community partners used allotted public-comment time to press the board on details. Brandy Bagerman, a parent from Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, said the small-school environment has been "life changing" for her child and warned the merger could disrupt services for students with individualized education programs. Jonathan Salazar, another parent, described how Alcott's special education staff helped his sons and asked the board to protect smaller-school options.

Sherry Obrinski, identified in the transcript as Cleveland Teachers Union president, praised the BBF goals but said stakeholders have not been given meaningful input into the plan's final design and urged the board to use the coming weeks to make substantive changes rather than "rubber-stamping" the recommendation. SEIU vice president Shahara Shearer asked the district to guarantee adequate support staffing (cafeteria, secretaries, environmental services) in consolidated schools that may see enrollment double.

Community partners signaled conditional support if key protections are preserved. Stephanie Wornet, chief innovation technology officer for the City of Cleveland, said she supports BBF as a path to long-term fiscal and academic stability and urged redirecting money from underused buildings to student programs. Cleveland Public Library representative Dr. Shanice Johnson described CPL's commitment to host a December school-choice fair and provide transition resources for families.

Board members asked administration for clarifications about special education continuity, safe-passages transportation, staffing timelines and professional development for teachers taking on new pathways. Morgan said the district has scheduled family and staff meetings, is deploying transition teams, and will provide more specific plans on professional development and staffing once the January'February school-choice window yields enrollment figures. He said reserved seats would be held at "welcoming" schools and repeated that routine transportation policies (yellow buses for students within the district policy distance and RTA for certain high school routes) would remain in place.

The administration also described supports intended to protect services for specialized programs (pre-K, SPED, dual-language and career pathways) and said partners such as MetroHealth and Cleveland Clinic would continue or reimagine on-site clinical and pathway work.

The board did not vote on BBF at the meeting. Chair Ellicott reiterated the board would continue public comment and monitoring and that final action is scheduled for Dec. 9.