Bill Rice: Last year, right about this time, Cleveland Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett pronounced the district was at a turning point. Mike White was still mayor, and mayoral control of the schools was still considered an experiment. But it was one, Byrd Bennett said, that was starting to show some results.
Barbara Byrd-Bennett: The years of deterioration due to inefficiency, complacency, politics and private agendas which combined to hold this system back are over. The ship is no longer adrift. We've turned the system around. And we've charted our course and are making important progress.
BR: One year and one new mayor later, Byrd-Bennett is expected this afternoon to report further progress. This will be her third address to an audience at the City Club of Cleveland in as many years. She'll undoubtedly discuss perhaps her best achievement so far - passage of Issue 14. Byrd-Bennett led the charge to pass the $380 million bond issue and tax levy, revving up the campaign - again - at the City Club.
BBB: I will vote for Issue 14, and do all I can to convince others to as well.
BR: Despite initial resistance to the additional tax burden, voters passed Issue 14 in May by a wide margin. That and a state match secured a billion dollars worth of school construction money. Today the debate has shifted. It's no longer whether to spend the money, but how to spend it. The 1st draft plan the district unveiled recently is a source of some contention, especially among city council members representing neighborhoods where schools are slated to be closed.
Mike Polensik: Council people need top be partners in this process. If we're we're not partners, then you know what we are? We're adversaries. And I'm prepared to do what I have to do out in the streets and in the neighborhoods, and I can assure you the board is not going to like that.
BR: That comment by Councilman Mike Polensik was among the harshest aimed at the district over the plan. Others have been more polite, but equally opposed to closing schools. Discussion of the plan is on-going, and more is expected during Byrd-Bennett's speech today.
Also on the CEO's mind is surely the issue of Mayoral control. Byrd-Bennett was hired by Mayor Mike White in 1998, shortly after the legislature dissolved the elected school board and turned the reigns over to White. This year voters will decide whether to return to an elected form of school governance or continue with mayoral control. Byrd-Bennett is firmly behind the latter choice. And she's given the arrangement credibility, which is somewhat vexing to people like Cleveland Teachers Union President Richard Decolibus, who initially opposed it.
Richard Decolibus: What do you do with an issue that was put in place for the wrong reasons in the wrong way and has worked out very well. We're kind of up in the air about it.
BR: But the prospect of returning to an elected board has some Byrd-Bennett fans nervous. Recent rumors of a possible opportunity in New York City has fueled speculation about a possible departure. It's just rumor, the CEO has said, but she's nonetheless indicated an unwillingness to work under an elected board. Lisa Ruda is her Chief of Staff.
Lisa Ruda: I think Barbara's been very very clear that she's been able to do the work that she's done because of a mayoral-appointed school board. If that piece changes and we go back to an elected board I think her decision to stay in Cleveland… there's other things she's got to look at if that's the case.
BR: Mayoral control will become a higher priority in coming months, and the schools chief is expected to campaign hard to retain it. But Ruda says right now Byrd-Bennett has her eye squarely on the task at hand, which is continued academic and facilities improvement. In today's speech, look also for progress reports on more nuts and bolts issues - like school safety, new, tougher achievement requirements, and measuring school success. In Cleveland, Bill Rice, 90.3 WCPN News.