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Board Members Explain Their Vote on Facilities Master Plan

The CH-UH School Board voted 3-2 to approve the facilities master plan. Members explained why they supported or opposed the idea before voting. Here's what they had to say.

 
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Voted yes. “If not now, when? I believe that prolonging this will only lead to another 40 years before change, more rising costs, wasted operating cost and the inevitable closing but not reopening of schools … With the passage of the bond issue, I would like to see a collaboration of city officials, board and community members, alumni, faculty and administration having meaningful and insightful dialogue regarding the future design of our buildings.” - Karen Jones, CH-UH School Board president Courtesy of Karen Jones
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Voted yes. “If not now, when? I believe that prolonging this will only lead to another 40 years before change, more rising costs, wasted operating cost and the inevitable closing but not reopening of schools … With the passage of the bond issue, I would like to see a collaboration of city officials, board and community members, alumni, faculty and administration having meaningful and insightful dialogue regarding the future design of our buildings.” - Karen Jones, CH-UH School Board president Credit Courtesy of Karen Jones
Voted yes. "I think it is vital that if this is put on the ballot, if this is moved forward and passes in November, that there needs to be, as we had a lay finance committee, that there is a lay committee to help oversee the use of this money and to make sure that all of the stakeholders are heard … Part of what’s special about this community is that we have a history. We’ve been here a long time. This city has been around long before any of us, and it will hopefully be around long after we’re gone, and the way that has happened is because each generation has stepped up and done what needed to be done to maintain it for the future generations. And it has been 40 years since we have taken a hard look at our schools and figured out what needed to be done." - Eric Coble, CH-UH School Board vice president Credit CH-UH City School District
Voted yes. "What my decision for tonight came down to, my personal decision, was my strong belief that our children do deserve better facilities, and that better facilities will lead to better, improved teaching and learning … While I do readily admit that we’ve made some missteps along the way, mostly in the broad category of communications … I don’t think that delaying this decision for a few months will benefit the students or these communities. I just firmly believe we need to move forward in this decision … We do need to rekindle the excitement that much of this community had for a comprehensive facilities plan.” -Nancy Peppler, CH-UH School Board member Credit Courtesy of Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District
Voted no. “I agree that we need to do something with our buildings, and I don’t think anybody doubts that. How we do it and what we do is something different … the No. 1 thing I’m concerned about is communications … as we move forward who is this team that we have and who are these people who are going to say the same thing as we go out and try to convince those naysayers that we need them to jump on board? … It seems like traditional school supporters are all over the place.” -Ron Register, CH-UH School Board member Credit Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools
Voted no. "I think the fact is we truly ran out of time. I think that the difficulty, when the time line starts dictating the process, is we lose focus, we lose our message and we frankly lose trust from our community ... And I think that unfortunately there’s been enough confusion surrounding the plan and enough different factions against the plan that I’m not sure that there’s truly an opportunity in November for us. I do not believe this issue would pass if we put it on the ballot ... I really think that this is an almost comprehensive plan. I think that the part of the plan, and I started to discuss this earlier, that concerns me most and that isn’t comprehensive is that there’s 100 students in this building (Deborah Delisle Educational Options Center) who aren’t covered in this plan. And those 100 students are arguably the students who are most in need." -Kal Zucker, CH-UH School Board member Credit Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools
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At Tuesday's regular Cleveland Heights-Univeristy Heights School Board meeting, members voted 3-2 to approve the facilities master plan, a $206.2 million project that will reconfigure and renovate buildings in the district and calls for closing three elementary schools.

Before starting the formal vote, each board member explained the difficulty they had making the decision and why he or she supported or opposed the plan.  Browse the photos above to see excerpts of statements from each board member.

Related Topics: 2012 election, CH-UH Board of Education, CH-UH Facilities Master Plan, Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, Eric Coble, Kal Zucker, Karen Jones, Nancy Peppler, November Elections, and Ron Register

John Hubbard

4:06 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

:: It's important to note that 4 of the 5 Board of Education members acknowledged problems with the process. Let's wait for the November 2013 election and use the community's increased attention and engagement to craft a plan that can actually be called a community plan. As it stands now, "stepping up" will give us exactly the same kinds of problems we got when the community "stepped up" for open classrooms 40 years ago. July 17th provides a final opportunity for the board to do the right thing for the community and put the brakes on this flawed plan. Contact the board members and let them know you oppose moving forward. You can find contact information on the district website: http://www.chuh.org/district/board-of-education/meet-the-board.

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Jake Crouse

8:51 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

Mostly rather mottled and wrong-headed thinking from Register & Zucker ...equivalent of the old 4-corner stall offense. Karen Jones probably expressed herself, and the philosophy, best.

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Bonnie Dolezal

10:25 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

I will be voting no as will all of my friends in Cleveland Heights University Heights. This is the wrong time to ask people for additional tax money. The board has lost all credibility by passing a levy in Nov. '11 with no mention of this upcoming issue.

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SPH

10:35 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

I completely disagree with you Jake... just because you have something in front of you and something needs to be done, does not mean that the thing in front of you is the right thing to do. The district needs to seriously look at what is needed. Sure our buildings need some upkeep and we probably need to consolidate somewhat to save costs. But put what money we do have to better use. More assistance for the teachers in the way of supplies and support, better more essential field trips, go back to the basics of teaching and leave the technology behind at the lower levels. Half of those kids are better with technology than the parents. Stop playing lets keep up with the Jones' and do what is truly best for our kids. TEACH THEM.

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Anne Caruso

7:23 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012

The biggest problem I have with the plan is that the children do not remain in the same building for very long. This frequent changing of environments is not good for children and I'm concerned that attention wa not paid to the need for stability in relationships with friends and staff for the children.

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John Hubbard

10:31 am on Friday, July 13, 2012

Please consider signing this petition essentially asking the CH-UH Board of Ed to allow a year of honest community dialog before asking our community for $130 Million.
http://www.change.org/petitions/cleveland-heights-university-heights-board-of-education-remove-plan-c-from-consideration-for-the-november-2012-ballot

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