A Message from Board of Education Chair, Denise W. Link
Board Agenda
I am honored to represent the students, families, and local community as the new Chair of the Board of Education. Mayor Jackson appointed me to the Board in July 2007 and designated me as Chair on July 6, 2009. I look forward to the excitement and challenges of the new school year.
Our Board is proud to open a number of new school buildings this year. Thanks to the voters’ support of the Issue 14 bond issue in 2001, we continue to make progress on our capital improvement plan, with the opening this fall of six new K-8 school buildings: Buhrer, East Clark, Garfield, Harvey Rice, Patrick Henry, and Wade Park. This will make a total of sixteen new and five renovated school buildings that we have opened since 2005. These openings are another important step toward providing world class educational facilities for all of our students, while contributing to the revitalization of Cleveland neighborhoods.
Also for this school year the Board has expanded the School District’s school uniform policy from the K-8 schools to our high schools. This will have a positive impact on our school environment.
This year the Board is also focused on improving our School District in a number of areas including improving academic achievement for all students, raising our high school graduation rate and providing more nutritious meals in our school cafeterias.
As the new Board of Education Chair, I am fortunate to work with a dedicated, volunteer Board, made up of Board Vice Chair Louise Dempsey, other veteran members Rashidah Abdulhaqq, Robert Heard, Willetta Milam and Natalie Peterson, along with our newest members Harvey Hopson and Iris Rodriguez. Working closely with Mayor Frank Jackson and School District Chief Executive Officer Dr. Eugene Sanders, we are committed to the goal of making the Cleveland Metropolitan School District a premier school district in the United States of America. We appreciate the continued and engaged support of all students, parents, teachers, staff and community members. We all need to work together to help our students achieve academic success.
The Board is always interested in hearing comments and concerns from the public. You can contact the Board members at 216-574-8585.