Cleveland NAACP officials today endorsed a Cleveland schools reform plan and said they would help district leader Eugene Sanders sway opponents.
The plan, which Sanders unveiled earlier this month, calls for a number of academic reforms, but his proposal to close or move 18 schools has met with pockets of resistance.
NAACP President George Forbes said the group is behind the plan because three-fourths of the city’s schools are in academic watch or emergency and high schools have graduation rates as low as 30 percent.
“What we have are not schools. What we have are holding pens that go on for 12 years,” Forbes said during a news conference at NAACP headquarters on Stokes Boulevard. “When they leave, our kids are not competent to get jobs.”
Opposition has centered mainly on plans to close East High School and to move Ginn Academy and Tremont Montessori. The school board may vote on the plan as early as Feb. 23.
Article courtesy of: cleveland.com
