COLUMBUS, Ohio — After months of meetings, the Columbus Board of Education tabled the decision on the final recommendations from the Superintendent’s Community Facilities Task Force to pursue more community engagement. 

“The Board of Education will now go into the community to gather additional feedback on the final recommendations and being further resolved that the Board of Education anticipates making a future decision on consolidating and learning community realignment,” said Christina Vera, Columbus Board of Education President.  

It was last month when the Superintendent’s Community Facilities Task Force proposed several plans, and listed 20 different schools that could be closed.

Tuesday evening, the task force presented their final recommendations, which included closing seven schools, two facilities and one administrative building. Columbus City Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman said this has been a collaborative effort with the community since the start of the task force.

“This is the beginning of a larger conversation, and we want to make sure that we continue to make sure that our community is involved. They understand what’s at stake. They also understand the opportunities that this presents to our students across the district,” said Chapman. 

In the final recommendations, several schools are being closed and consolidated, making them larger schools. Instead of having a large number of small schools, the district wants to have a smaller number of large schools that are more updated and equipped with more resources. Vera said the conversations on these recommendations are not over yet. 

“We want to be able to have real, critical, in-depth conversations with our community or with our students, because I think oftentimes we’re talking about our students, but they are not a part of this conversation. They’re not at the table,” said Vera. 

Parents, teachers and community members crowded the meeting room, voicing their opinions. After learning that the board is pausing their vote on approving the recommendations, some parents are feeling relieved. 

“You know, I have four kids, which is already a full-time job. So I feel very relieved and I’m hoping that I’ll have a moment to breathe. And so will my family,” said parent Susan Cavendish. 

Although the board and task force said they have done their due diligence with community engagement, Stuart McIntyre from the Columbus Education Justice Coalition believes otherwise. 

“The community engagement has not been anything close to sufficient. And so the new process and, you know, whatever the board comes up with it, absolutely needs to extend the amount of time and deepen the level of engagement so that it’s meeting people where they are,” said McIntyre.

The Columbus Board of Education still needs to vote to approve the recommendations. As of now, no date is set on when that will be.