CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is proceeding with reopening schools Monday, March 8, despite a vote by the Cleveland Teachers Union (CTU) to continue teaching virtually from their homes, the district said Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • The Cleveland Metropolitan School District wants teachers back in classrooms Monday, March 8 and students back in-class Thursday, but the Cleveland Teachers Union says the buildings aren’t prepared to prevent COVID-19 transmission

  • CMSD CEO Eric Gordon ordered teachers and support staff to return to the buildings on Monday, the date given by Gov. Mike DeWine for Ohio schools to resume in-person classes

  • Teachers say they were in the process of creating a detailed return-to-school plan when they were ordered back to the buildings

  • The school district will move ahead with plans for the staff's return, and will not lock teachers out of their digital classrooms to pressure them to return

CMSD CEO Eric Gordon last week ordered teachers and support staff back to the school buildings. The teachers are to arrive Monday, and the students are scheduled to return to the buildings Thursday, March 11, according to a CTU statement. Teachers have been conducting classes digitally from home.

“The governor’s arbitrary deadline for school reopening has created an unreasonable and forced timeline that makes a safe and orderly transition from remote to hybrid impossible,” the union said in a statement. “The current timeline for reopening school does not reflect the shared commitment of the CTU and CMSD to a safe and orderly reopening for staff and students.”

Gov. Mike DeWine told school districts that in order for their staffs to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, they must be back in the classroom by March 1. Although seven districts, including CMSD missed that deadline, many of them still have plans to return at some point this month. 

Nearly 500 union members voted Thursday night to continue working remotely, the statement said, because the district has not provided a safe environment for return.

 “We need proven safeguards, like personal protective equipment, distancing and ventilation, but the district has failed to address our concerns and to provide documentation we have requested,” CTU President Shari Obrenski said in the statement.

In response, CMSD said plenty of personal protective equipment is on hand, and the district has boosted sanitization practices, improved ventilation systems and reconfigured classrooms for social distancing.  

The district said it will work with the union through the weekend to “identify any specifically identified concerns.”

Quarantine centers also have been created for anyone with COVID-19 symptoms and classrooms have updated technology, including laptops, microphones and earbuds, the district said.

DeWine weighed in during a COVID-19 announcement on Friday afternoon, reiterating the district’s assertion that Cleveland’s school buildings provide a safe environment with everyone in the buildings wearing masks.

“We know today something that we did not know frankly when schools were closed last March. And that is, we know how powerful these masks are,” DeWine said.

The majority of teachers who wanted the vaccine received it and will soon get the second dose, and spread in schools is low, he said.

“And so, the kids have been out for a year now. It's time for the Cleveland city children to be able to go back to school in person,” DeWine said.

The teachers union said Gordon had “tossed out a reopening plan” and was “bowing to pressure from Gov. Mike DeWine.”

The teachers union had been actively working on a “well-planned, science-based” return-to-school plan, said Obrenski in the statement.

“We had that plan moving, and it got derailed,” Obrenski said. “This rush job is fueled by political expediency, not sound science.”

The teachers have an ethical responsibility to come back to the school buildings, the school district said, and plans are moving forward for their return Monday.

The school district will not attempt to force teachers back to school by locking them out of their digital classrooms, the statement said.