School & District Management

Cleveland Budget Cuts Hurt Gains, Departing Schools Chief Laments

By Catherine Gewertz — August 30, 2005 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Civic and education leaders in Cleveland have banded together to undertake the search for a new schools chief, saying they want to continue the progress that has taken root under Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who is leaving after a nearly seven-year tenure.

Barbara-Byrd Bennett, the head of Cleveland's schools, hugs an intern Aug. 5 after announcing she will not seek a new contract.

Three days after the defeat of a proposed property-tax levy intended to stabilize the financially struggling school district, Ms. Byrd-Bennett announced Aug. 5 that she would not seek to renew her contract when it expires Sept. 30. She has offered to remain in charge for up to a year longer to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership. (“Crucial Levy Goes Down in Cleveland,” Aug. 10, 2005)

Two of Cleveland’s nine school board members, Louise Dempsey and Larry Davis, have been named to coordinate the search for a new chief executive officer, in consultation with Mayor Jane L. Campbell and an advisory panel of civic and education leaders. Meanwhile, the mayor must also find a replacement for Margaret Hopkins, the school board chairwoman, who resigned Aug. 22 to take a teaching position at the University of Toledo.

The Ohio legislature in 1998 enabled Cleveland’s mayor to appoint the school board and choose the superintendent. Then-Mayor Michael R. White brought Ms. Byrd-Bennett, an administrator for the New York City schools, to Cleveland that year. The mayoral-control law now allows the appointed school board to choose a new CEO “in concurrence with” the mayor.

Worrisome ‘Spiral’

Ms. Byrd-Bennett said in a recent interview that she had already decided to leave the district before the levy went down by a ratio of 2-to-1. Years of deepening financial problems—driven by inadequate state funding, rising health-care costs, and declining enrollment—had forced her to make $168 million in cuts over several years to the district’s budget, which is now $600 million, and to lay off 1,400 people.

“Things that we put in place that needed to be in place began to vanish,” she said. “I felt almost as if there was no way for us to get out of this spiral.”

Even with the 65,000-student district’s difficulties, however, Ms. Byrd-Bennett believes the “foundations are absolutely in place” for her successor. When she arrived, she was shocked to find that the district lacked many basic “structures and systems” of operation. She focused on building that infrastructure—fiscal checks and balances, data systems to track student performance and attendance, staff technology training—to focus on academics.

Ms. Byrd-Bennett drove the adoption of districtwide academic standards, establishing them before Ohio’s were completed. She instituted a department of professional development and worked with the teachers’ union to create training tailored to the new standards. She began a division of evaluation and assessment to examine data to guide instruction, and retooled human-resources operations in an attempt to procure a teacher corps better suited to Cleveland’s high-need students.

She also reinstituted arts programs that had been cut from many schools, phased out middle schools in favor of K-8 arrangements, and opened a group of alternative schools aimed at cutting dropout and expulsion rates.

“It was really creating a school system from the ground up,” Ms. Byrd-Bennett said.

The Mantra

Meryl T. Johnson, the first vice president of the 4,500-member Cleveland Teachers Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, credits Ms. Byrd-Bennett with strengthening teaching with the standards and corresponding training. The schools chief’s intensive focus on literacy in all grades—part of her mantra, “Standards, Literacy, Vision”—paired with her knowledge of pedagogy made her “a strong instructional and inspirational leader,” Ms. Johnson said.

Ms. Byrd-Bennett placed teacher-coaches in the elementary schools, helping drive increases in state test scores more quickly than those seen statewide, though the absolute scores still lagged behind those of most children in Ohio.

Charlise L. Lyles, the editor of Catalyst-Cleveland, which tracks school issues in the city, said a teacher survey by the magazine found many educators cited the coaches as instrumental in helping them improve instruction.

But in the last couple of years, the schools chief was dogged by questions about her $278,000 annual salary and first-class air travel, and about the district’s investment decisions. Persistent discipline problems in the schools, as well as the budget deficits, which required deep cuts, were also held against her.

Those controversies were heavily covered by the local news media, and Ms. Byrd-Bennett herself acknowledges that her staff was often too overwhelmed with other crises to counter by publicizing the district’s successes, or explaining the complexities of why it was struggling.

Mark F. Thimmig, the CEO and president of White Hat Management, an Akron-based private company that runs 10 charter schools in Cleveland, rejects the argument that the schools chief lost support because the public did not understand the progress she had initiated.

“People do not want to continue to see more money go to a failing system that year after year has one excuse after another about why it couldn’t accomplish what its charge is,” he said.

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How One Principal Got Kids to Pay Attention in Class
Utah principal Shauna Haney brought about one of the first classroom cellphone bans in the state.
2 min read
Cellphone wearing a sleep mask. Cellphone policy.
Irina Shatilova/iStock
School & District Management Celebrate Five Years of The Savvy Principal—A Newsletter Just for School Leaders
The Savvy Principal is full of news, insights, and actionable tips on school leadership.
1 min read
Close cropped photo of a laptop, planner and phone with ear phones attached to it. The phone is displaying an edition of Education Week's The Savvy Principal enewsletter.
Liz Yap/Education Week + Adobe Stock
School & District Management Worried About Withheld Education Funding? Here's How Leaders Can Speak Up
Education leaders must communicate the consequences of withheld K-12 funding to Congress and their own communities.
6 min read
Superintendents Dr. Alex Marrero, Alberto Carvalho, and Joe Gothard
Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, left, Madison Superintendent Joe Gothard, and Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are among district leaders who've pushed for the release of withheld federal K-12 funding. The three have also sought to explain the consequences to their own communities.
David Zalubowski/AP, Andy Clayton-King/AP, Anthony Behar/AP
School & District Management Opinion ‘You’re Woke’: A Former Superintendent Responds to Intense Backlash
My critics hurled “woke” at me like a verbal grenade—but we need education leaders who are wide awake.
Robert Sokolowski
4 min read
Diverse group of multiethnic multicultural people silhouette. The weaponization of woke.
iStock/Getty Images