| Cool Cleveland Interview: Barbara
Byrd-Bennett
Barbara Byrd-Bennett is the charismatic Cleveland Municipal
School District CEO, and a transplant from New York where her previous
position as superintendent of the "Chancellor's District" in NYC consisted
of some of the most challenging schools in the city. She is known for her
purposeful child-oriented focus for the school system and refusal to
accept mediocrity. The District has come under fire recently for its $100
million deficit and the teacher layoffs instituted to balance the budget,
and the District is expected to ask Cleveland voters to pass a school levy
this Fall. In this exclusive interview, Byrd-Bennett speaks with Cool
Cleveland about how Cleveland schools relate to technology, the arts
and regionalism.
![]() Cool
Cleveland: In your mind, what is the connection
between Cleveland Public Schools and the broader economy of the region,
and how do you leverage that?
Barbara Byrd-Bennett: You can see me taking a deep
breath. It even astonishes me that you can think of the lifeblood of the
city without thinking of the schools as the heart of the matter. The
[current $100 million Cleveland Public Schools] budget reduction has
helped me focus on human capital and our children and how we can recycle
their tools back into the city; also how much of the economy is driven by
who we purchase services from. We use resources from University Circle,
The [Great Lakes] Science Center, from both small businesses and large
businesses; it’s in the multiple millions. Our operating budget is $667
million, add to that the capital plan...that makes it a $2 billion budget
with 12,000 folks working, and the largest workforce in the county.
How does the issue of Regionalism, with its focus on working
together collaboratively, breaking down barriers between regions, and a
focus on economic development, relate to the Cleveland Public
Schools?
It’s very interesting the way you’ve phrased the question. That's the
most comprehensive definition that I’ve heard, and I usually don’t get a
clear definition of terms. What are you saying when you talk about
regionalism? If we look at how we use services, and pool the resources to
use them in a wiser way, then you can’t keep the schools out of that loop.
They pump the kids back into the system. If you look at the resources of
Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Summit [Counties], and you took a look at how many
schools are in those districts, the children, the employees and the
property values, there would probably be a way to regionalize to save
money. Then you probably wouldn’t have to raise taxes as often. But what
you run into are cultural norms which are harder to impact. I can’t
imagine that there are too many people who would want my children to cross
a border to attend a school in a neighboring community. But if you look at
Brown versus Board of Education, that is the spirit of what we
should be doing.
Regionalism is on everyone’s mind this year. What would you
think about one county-wide school system?
There are
models out there in other states and cities where they have county-wide
systems that are still effective and more efficient.
How do you see the Cleveland Public Schools taking advantage of
their connection to the OneCleveland program of digital
connectivity?
It makes me go WOW! As kids we'd watch
Mork & Mindy and The Twilight Zone, the shows that
dealt with things in the future, and now we’re making it happen. The
incredible resources that we bring to the table and their potential is
mind-boggling. We have to be careful about putting on the table what our
goal is...
Lev Gonick, as Chief Information Officer of Case, and the
driving force behind OneCleveland is a doer, he doesn't just
talk.
My vision of how my children would benefit
from access to a world of information-- there are things that families
might not currently be able to physically enjoy, but this would bring it
to them. The ability to have all the science teachers in the school system
connected to scientists at Case Western Reserve University. It’s not going
to happen if we stay in our little silos, and this has the potential to
tear down the silos. This really begins to provide an equity of
opportunity for kids who many never get the chance to go to Severance
Hall.
In your opinion, how important is technology, both in the
training of students, and in the operation of the classroom?
When I first arrived here, the Summit on Education did a poll
asking parents to rank educational priorities. Technology and foriegn
languages ranked 96 and 97, definitely not seen as an important part of
the learning equation for their kids. And I thought, WOW - this is the
base line that we have to change. Four years later we administered the
same poll, and in that time, tech became almost the number 1 priority,
foreign language was number 2. Thank God that parents are now validating
the need for technology in the classroom. It’s like the American Express
card for kids. If they don’t have a chance to use it, it’ll be like
African-Americans at the end of the Civil War - having the ability to
attend school, but not given a book to learn with. I hope the institutions
of higher learning are educating teachers for teaching and managing with
these new devices.
The $1.2 billion school building program is considered one of
the largest economic development projects ever in the City of Cleveland.
How are you leveraging that program to generate the largest return for the
region, as well as the students?
There are 335
million dollars that the community has access to, based on the bond. We
have the potential to leverage $1.7 billion by playing with our partners,
the Ohio School Facilities Commission. It’s bigger than Gateway, it’s huge
and we’re being thoughtfully strategic in making sure that the money is
used wisely to leverage the match from the state; there are regulations
that may not be good for our community.
With all the restrictions they put on it, you probably want to
say to the state, "Keep the damn money..."
Yeah, but
we cannot, we just cannot. I love the Parthenon, it’s a great building,
but I could not educate my grandkids there. The community needs to think
about whether they want to keep their landmark, or do we think about how
we leverage the dollars to make those buildings into 21st century learning
institutions.
The Cleveland Public Schools are expected to go to the voters
with a school levy this coming November. How much will you ask for? What
will that mean to a family with a $100k home?
We are
in the process of that deliberation, and we want to be careful about it -
here’s the deficit: $100 million. Which resources are critical to bring
back on line, and which are extras that you may be able to hold off on,
and that will tell us what the mileage will be.
What will your message be?
I would hope
that everybody looks to the work that's been accomplished, and what we
have delivered in the past five years. Are schools safer, are kids
learning, is attendance up, is graduation rate up? If the answer is yes,
yes, yes, yes and everything's moving in the right direction, including
the capital project. I recognize that these are hard economic times, but
that’s when you focus on education. At the SCLC [Southern Christian
Leadership Conference] dinner, I saw on the TV Mayor White saying that
Clevelanders will give everything for their kids. Even if they have no
more to give, they will dig deeper, if things are moving in the right
direction.
Do you have a marketing plan to sell the levy?
We’re working with Arnold Pinkney and Bill Burgess and Gerry
Austin. That’s their job.
Why should Clevelanders vote for the levy?
Because we have no alternative. If someone can give me an
alternative... If we believe in the economic development of the city, and
Cleveland, as the mother city of the region, then we have no choice. It is
very much about how the state funds education. So we’ve got to change it;
it’s so broken that we can’t tinker around.
To what extent does your success convincing middle class
parents to send their kids to Cleveland Public Schools determine the
success or failure of the entire system?
I think
again we go back to Brown. I think we’re talking about middle class
African Americans and Hispanics as well as whites. We can only go so far
into the burbs. And the region is dependent upon the city and the city is
dependent upon the schools. I think parents just want a good school, they
don’t want to leave the city. Parents want three things: school to be
safe, learning to go on with a diverse group of children, and a competent
staff that views their child as precious cargo. That’s what everybody
wants, and you can’t get that without the middle class. It’s what Dickens
talked about in A Tale of Two Cities. If the middle class
retreats, you’re left with a lack of resources.
What about gifted kids? Why should they go to Cleveland Public
Schools?
Because we have gifted teachers and gifted
curriculum, and we have some schools that are best-kept secrets that are
out-performing other schools. Cleveland School of the Arts, the Early
College Program taught on the campus of Cleveland State University.
There's also the High Tech Academy where they learn on the campus of
Tri-C. And Forest Hills Parkways is a K-8 school where our kids do
incredible work, there's also Glenville High School where our kids do
really well. The Washington Park School is where kids learn gardening and
small pet care; I buy all my bulbs and gardening supplies there. Newton D.
Baker focuses on the elementary arts. Daniel E. Morgan has the accelerated
science school. There are many who we help waive the tuition, because they
want to send their kids to our schools. It is a practice we must cease
because of the deficit.
Many private schools, charter schools and parochial schools
have a parent liaison to offer resources, conduct tours and generally
answer parents' questions about schools. What do Cleveland Public Schools
offer to parents who are interested in learning more about where they
might send their kids?
We have 122 family liaisons
who are assigned to schools and work directly with parents. We’re in the
process of creating Choice High Schools, which are small learning high
schools. We had a Choice Fair at the end of May with a bazaar, meet and
greet the teachers and principlals, one was held at Lincoln West. Each
school is charged with marketing their own school, creating brochures.
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled four times that the way we
fund public schools in this state is unconstitutional and illegal. Many
have also said it is immoral to base education on property taxes. What
would be a better way to fund primary and secondary education?
I think that first the state has to take a look at what the base
fund should be. $5,058 is too low, when it costs us close to $11,000 to
provide a base education for children. It’s not just buying a textbook,
but also the cost of technology which changes quickly. It may be people
who are very brave who are elected, those who have to bite the bullet, and
it might be the T word, to raise taxes to make it more equitable. Then if
you have more to work with, you can negotiate the super above-and beyond
dollars. In New York we looked and saw that it wasn’t enough, and parents
stepped up and helped fund pottery and dance classes; the community wanted
it and they figured out how to do it. Then there's The Friends of the
School of the Arts, and even though many of them don’t have kids, they
still help raise money for the schools. The state has to look at what the
mechanisms are to get onto the starting ground of funding. Then we need a
weighted formula, since many kids in the system don’t come prepared like
the kids coming in from Orange. So given the zip code, can we give the
startup that allows that child to have the jumpstart to get them to
experience the classical concert? And that’s what the base education
should include. The other thing is, all children should have a [student to
teacher] ratio of 15 to 1, but children should have that at an early age.
You should also hold districts accountable for what is expected, and hold
the superintendent accountable also.
What is your role in helping to change the funding structure at
the state level?
To be the voice of the voiceless,
to help people understand the realities of urban school districts, and to
show that our children come with the grey matter to learn. To underscore
why it is so important: the economic development and how Cleveland is the
mother city, so people don’t think our children are the riff-raff with no
hope and no possibility.
You serve on the Governors' Blue Ribbon Commission on School
Funding to reform school funding. What is it charged to do?
It's charged to examine the current funding system for schools,
explore other states and to make recommendations to the Governor on how
you would change the base formula, and what the transition would look
like.
What can parents do to help change the funding
structure?
Absolutely the "now action" is that every
parent and every citizen should be writing letters to their elected
officials is uneuitable and unconstutional and we’ve got to do something
about it. And they have to use the power of their vote in November to do
something about the people who don’t take that responsibility.
The federal “No Child Left Behind Act” promises to address
improvements in primary and secondary education. Can you talk about the
effects of this legislation on the Cleveland Public Schools? What about
the $1.5 billion the Act requires you to spend annually for summer school,
day care & assessment?
There is not one thing in
this legislation that I disagree with. It’s common sense and good stuff,
but it’s not what we do. So if we’ve got to do this, it’s going to cost to
make that change. The funding is simply not there if you want to do it
correctly and truly leave no children behind. Just the assessment costs:
to buy assessment [testing], to have it scored, to translate it into
professional development for teachers. I think there ought to be more
thought for children who have special needs or those who use English as a
second language; the standardized test is not the same for each group.
 How important are arts & culture in the
Cleveland Public Schools?
When we arrived in 1998 there were maybe two schools that had arts
programs: Newton D. Baker on the West side, and the Cleveland School of
the Arts on the East side. Most schools were devoid of music, drama,
graphic & visual arts. One of the first things we did was create an
office of arts education. The first program we developed standards for was
literacy, then normally a community would develop programs for math and
reading. But the way we did it, the second program of standards we
developed was for the arts. Then came the necessary professional
development which was teacher recruitment. And these programs bring
students city-wide around to the arts; over the last five years it has
grown to be not just an add-on, but integral. And it reaches out to so
many community partners.
Who are some of the people you work with?
The Cleveland Play House, Rock Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art, The
Great Lakes Theatre Festival...I think there’s not one organization in the
county that we’re not working with. They've all helped us create our
program, and we are tracking data to see if the arts help students in
other areas, and yes, they do help us.
With all the major budget slashing at the Cleveland Public
Schools over the past few weeks, have there been any cuts in the arts for
this year?
We just voted [on 6/15/04] and we
restored the arts program. All of the arts programs were on the chopping
block. But I felt so strongly about the arts, that instead of cutting the
arts we should cut our headquarters staff - some through attrition. So we
were able to save all the arts programs and we’ll continue to count on our
partners to offer grants and in-kind programs. We’ll also be asking our
arts partners to help us with our levy.
Has there been some discussion with the arts community for them
to help you pass the school levy?
In the past two
levies over the past five years, the arts community has been very active,
and I’m sure we could count on them again.
Have you spoken with them yet?
We just
passed our budget last night! Now that we know what we’re up against,
we're working on the levy.
How important are the arts to you personally?
I am so passionate about this, it is one of the most important
things in my life. I find time to sit on those boards, so we have to find
the resources to keep the momentum. There's Carmen Jones
city-wide [theatre production involving Cleveland Public School's
students] at the [Cleveland] Play House, and it is breathtaking that the
kids come and do everything from writing to costumes to acting.
What can people do to help?
Generally, I
would hope that the broader community realize that this levy in November
is not just about operating dollars, but it’s an integral part of the
puzzle to sustain Cleveland proper, so that we can survive as a region. If
our school system can’t survive, and our city can’t survive, then so goes
the region. This is more than a campaign, because it addresses how we fund
the education of our children in this state. It’s more a crusade for our
children, because this relates to how the state of Ohio funds the schools
systems in this state. There are a couple of specific things that people
can do: we need registered voters, hopefully registered voters who agree
with our position. We need people who can volunteer, to help with the
campaign door to door. We need this to be a really grass-roots effort that
reaches out to people who really care about their children. We need people
to write letters, to make phone calls, to advocate with public officials.
And of course, we always need dollars. Finally, we need our community to
dispel the myths about the Cleveland Public Schools, and to get the word
out on the positive achievements so this levy can continue the
achievements of the past five years.
How important is Mayoral control of the school
board?
Very important, at least for me. It provides
the kind of unitary leadership that is important for schools. The schools
are the heartbeat of the city; it has allowed our school district to
achieve the gains that it has made. In the next 10-15 years, if it’s not
working, then let’s switch it up again.
Is it safe to assume that you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t
for Mayoral control?
When Mike White called me, at
the time I had no interest in applying for the job. Then Mike said that
there would be "no boss, no elected school board, and the Lake." Plus
there's a lake, and I have to be near water.
You recently interviewed for the position of head of the New
York City Public Schools. It's the country's largest school district, it
also happens to be your home. Then you ended up staying in your current
position in Cleveland, which was good news to a lot of people here. What
happened in that interview?
I didn’t like what I was
hearing. I don’t think we were drinking from the same pot of coffee. And I
had a commitment to finish this work because I was in the midst of a
contract. So it was a conversation.
What would it take for you to accept another position in
another district?
Our community here in Cleveland to
just give up on our children. I can’t do this work alone, because I’ve
never done it alone. Whatever happens in November will be our community's
legacy for our children.
Your name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Mayor
of Cleveland. Would you care to comment?
I don’t
know why people say that. I have never said I’m interested. I am more like
the Mayor of the Children.
What would it take for you to consider such a
position?
I can’t focus on that now. I’ve got to
keep my stewardship focused. I’ve really enjoyed this work and it has made
me feel efficacious, like the spirits have driven me to do this work. It’s
hard as heck, and I can do it as long as I have the community support and
my staff, which is phenomenal. I'm also focused on my daughter who is
going to have twin boys, and I’m going to be a grandmother. We have no
boys in our family, and I’m so looking forward to that.
Interview and photos by Thomas Mulready
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