CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools held a series of town halls Wednesday to gather final community feedback on its four-year strategic plan draft before the board votes next month.
The district, along with Bellwether and Rice Education Consulting, hosted the sessions to present the draft plan for the CPS Promise and its 2030 commitment and hear whether the community felt its priorities were on the right track.
A CPS spokesperson said the sessions were designed to close the loop on earlier feedback.
"Did we hear you? Are we getting the right results from other plans that you asked for? If that's true, tell us that. If it's not true, tell us where we missed, where we can do better, what we'd like to see change, and that's what these feedback sessions are for," Joe Wessels said.
The plan, built on feedback from more than 1,500 parents, educators, students and community members, centers on the following four strategic priorities:
- Every student experiences consistent high-quality instruction and access to opportunities that prepare them for postsecondary success — with every student having a teacher equipped to use strong, grade-level instructional materials consistently, not just in some classrooms but in all of them; every student experiencing instruction that reflects a shared, district-wide vision of what excellent teaching looks like; every student's learning building coherently from kindergarten through senior year with no gaps and no repetition; and every student having a clear, real path to college, a career, or whatever comes next — not just in theory, but in practice.
- Every student comes to school feeling safe, supported, and ready to learn — and gets the help they need to stay engaged — including consistent expectations and structures for behavior and belonging across every school; targeted support for students at risk of chronic absence; social-emotional skill development; and access to mental health support and community resources in all schools, not just some.
- Every student is taught by skilled, well-supported educators who are equipped to grow and committed to staying — with professional development connected to actual classroom practice, regular instructional coaching, data-driven teaching adjustments, and a qualified, experienced teacher in every classroom rather than a long-term substitute filling a vacancy.
- Every student benefits from a district that makes clear decisions, directs resources where they matter most, communicates openly, and plans ahead — ensuring leaders at every level know their responsibilities and follow through, that schools receive resources based on actual student need rather than historical patterns, that families can understand how decisions affecting their school are made, and that the district plans ahead financially and structurally so schools remain stable and sustainable over time.
While some attendees expressed support for the plan's direction, others raised concerns about whether the district can deliver on its promises given current financial pressures.
Audience members questioned whether the plan was focused enough on students and raised concerns about staff.
"My concern is just, how can we expect people outside of the schools to join us in that when I have many coworkers who don't believe in our kids enough to step up in that way?" one attendee said.
WATCH: Community shares their input and concerns on strategic plan
Drishauna Garlington, a school counselor at Western Hills High School, said the plan's goals are difficult to reconcile with the district's current staffing realities. She said Western Hills serves between 800 and 1,000 students but currently has only 25 teachers, resulting in some classes with 35 to 40 students.
"We keep talking about all these wonderful things that we want to happen, and yes, I want those things to happen for my students, but we can't do it if they keep cutting teachers, if they keep cutting staff," Garlington said.
She said the district has already cut eight school counselors and 12 social workers, and warned that the plan's ambitions around postsecondary opportunities cannot be achieved without the staff to support them.
"You can't say we want AP, we want CCP classes, and all those things are happening, and happening really great at my particular school, but then also say we're gonna cut your teacher who teaches that CCP class," Garlington said.
Garlington said she believes the district is making real progress at Western Hills, pointing to fire programming, a 911 program, and growing enrollment in College Credit Plus and AP courses, but that continued cuts undermine those gains.
She also called for stronger two-way communication between the district and the people who work inside its buildings every day.
Glenetta Blair Krause, a district-wide mentor teacher and educational policies chair for the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, said the union has not been meaningfully included in the strategic planning process.
"We want to be a part of it. We are educational professionals. We have a lot of good ideas and want to be involved in the whole process," Krause said.
Krause, who has worked at Cincinnati Public Schools for 31 years, said the CFT organized its own small focus group of eight teachers to meet with Bellwether but described that as happening largely at the union's own initiative and after much of the planning was already underway.
She said teachers want to be recognized as experts and partners, not viewed as obstacles.
"It's disappointing. Some of our board kind of see us as antagonists in all of this, and we just want to be involved. We want to be partners in this whole thing," Krause said.
Krause also raised concerns about the direction of classroom instruction, saying high-quality teaching cannot be reduced to screen-based learning and computerized assessments. She said students, especially younger ones, need hands-on, teacher-led experiences to stay engaged and develop a love of learning.
She said the strategic plan's goals are broadly agreeable, but that the community needs more time and input to shape what those goals actually look like in practice.
"We've lost some time, and we need to spend some more time on what are the goals of the whole community, not just the board, not just Bellwether, but what are the goals of the whole community," Krause said.
A CPS spokesperson said community members who could not attend the sessions have additional opportunities to provide input.
Another is scheduled Friday at SCPA from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., with the business community encouraged to attend. A virtual session via Zoom is also scheduled for Friday at noon.
Those who prefer to submit feedback in writing can complete a survey at cpsk12.org.
The CPS board is expected to vote on the final strategic plan in August.
