Cleveland City Schools board reallocates funds, approves Arnold playground and Candies Creek shade and tree projects
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Summary
The board approved reallocating local sales-tax funds to buy one new bus and fund elevator repairs, authorized an $104,000 playground project at Arnold Memorial (largely covered by an $80,000 HCI grant and PTO/BCPEF fundraising), and greenlighted shade structures and a 51-tree planting at Candies Creek funded by a $20,000 HCI grant and local contributions.
The Cleveland City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to reallocate local sales-tax funds and to approve two school playground and campus-improvement projects during its January meeting.
In a facilities recommendation approved by roll call, the board agreed to purchase one new school bus instead of two and to use the remaining funds to repair elevator systems at Arnold and Mayfield elementary schools. The facilities committee brought the recommendation forward; the motion was seconded and passed with every member voting yes.
Arnold Memorial Principal Mr. Chai presented the board with a proposed playground replacement dubbed the "banana slug." He said the project’s estimated total cost is $104,000; the school received an $80,000 Healthy Community Initiatives (HCI) grant, and the vendor discounted the equipment price to $62,000, leaving installation costs of about $42,000 to cover. Mr. Chai said Arnold’s PTO will raise approximately $14,000 and BCPEF (the Bradley Cleveland Public Education Foundation) will contribute about $10,000 to close the gap. Dr. Elliott recommended authorizing the purchase and scheduling installation for spring; the board voted to proceed.
"Our grant covers the equipment price, and with PTO and BCPEF contributions we can proceed with installation once weather allows," Mr. Chai said.
Separately, Candies Creek principal Ms. Whitener described two exterior projects: three shade structures over playground areas and an outdoor-classroom area, and a collaborative tree-planting of 51 trees. She said the school won a $20,000 HCI grant toward a roughly $35,000 shade-structure project and that the City and the Candies Creek PTO would fund a separate $5,000 tree-planting initiative (City $3,500; PTO $1,500). The board authorized both projects by unanimous vote.
Facilities staff also updated the board on other capital matters: bleacher installation delays at Cleveland Middle School due to fabrication errors, a repaired elevator board at Arnold after a failure, and an upcoming petroleum-line repair that will close Mouse Creek Road for approximately a week because of a federal repair deadline.
The board’s motions and votes on the bus/elevator reallocation, Arnold playground authorization, and Candies Creek projects were recorded by roll call and approved unanimously. The board did not authorize use of district operating funds for the playground equipment beyond the reallocated items and the local fundraising described.