CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools is preparing to welcome more than 35,000 students back to classrooms next week. District leaders say the academic year will mark a "new era" filled with significant changes and funding challenges.
"We are entering, as the superintendent will tell you, a new era completely reorganized, restructured and ready to serve our kids," said Cincinnati Board of Education Vice President Eve Bolton.
Superintendent Shauna Murphy said the district is committed to ensuring students are ready socially, academically and emotionally for the upcoming school year as the district faces financial challenges.
WATCH: How CPS said it is ready for the new school year
Academic achievements
The district reported several academic achievements from the previous year:
- The College Credit Plus program saw a 35% increase in participation, with 84% of participants being African American males
- AP access increased 31.1%, with 241 students earning industry-recognized credentials
- 889 students earned industry-recognized credentials and the Ohio Means Job Readiness Seal
- 20 students were named National Merit finalists
- 10 students received the Marian Spencer scholarship for full tuition at the University of Cincinnati
- One Walnut Hills senior received his bachelor's degree
New middle schools, enrollment changes
Last school year, the district rolled out centralized enrollment to ease concerns and make transitioning into the school district easier with the east, west and central corridors. The approach allows families to select schools within three corridors without going through a lottery system.
After opening Shroder Middle School last year as the district's first middle school, CPS is adding five new middle schools at Hartwell Elementary, Pleasant Hill Academy, South Avondale Elementary, Evanston Academy and Ethel M. Taylor Academy.
The district is also adding welcome centers at the Academy of World Languages School, Dater Gilbert A High School and Withrow High School. Additionally, CPS is expanding its Montessori seats, now offering nine Montessori schools/programs.
Transportation and safety measures
For the upcomnig school year, students in grades K-6 will ride yellow buses, while students in grades 7-12 will take Metro.
As discussed by Mayor Aftab Pureval earlier this week, Murphy said the district is handling student transportation safety differently, noting a limited number of students will have to transfer at Oakley and Government Square.
"Metro cards will only be operational until about 5 p.m., and for the young people who are participating in extracurricular activities, their cards will look different, and adults will be able to determine who should be where when," said Murphy.
She also says the Yondr phone pouches will remain in all high schools and will be implemented in middle and junior high schools.
Additional changes
Earlier this year, the district decided that school nurses at Cincinnati Public Schools would now be hired by the district itself. The superintendent said nurses and social workers would be in every school.
When asked about staffing concerns, Murphy expressed confidence in the district's teacher retention.
"We did have challenges to close that budget gap. At the end of the day, with the changes that needed to be made, we may have lost five teachers out of our 2,600 teachers," said Murphy.
Murphy also said the district is partnering with Jobs and Family Services to provide more uniforms and resources for students who may be experiencing homelessness.
Funding challenges
In July, CPS reported that the federal government took back more than $5 million from the district, which supported educational materials for several programs and 37 full-time employees.
"Our district decided to join a lawsuit against the federal government to really give the kids the money that they deserve," said Murphy.
The district received those dollars just days ago, according to Murphy.
The superintendent spoke about the importance of community engagement as the district navigates challenges with state funding limitations.
"We do know that there are still people lobbying to destroy public education, essentially because of some of the pieces that are out there around being able to limit what kind of levies school districts can have, limiting how much money school districts can save over a period of time, limiting building usage in school districts," said Murphy.
She says all of those things could have a negative impact on Cincinnati Public Schools.
"We will work to keep our community and our families engaged in what we're doing, specifically in CPS, and in the things that could hurt us and help us across the state at large," said Murphy.
For more information on back-to-school questions, families can visit the CPS website.
