Fellow Blue Bomber Alumni:

In case you haven't already been made aware, the district has an Academic Transformation Plan that involves the closing of some and re-purposing of other school buildings. East is slated to be closed... and demolished. The final vote was held by the School Board in March and they upheld Dr. Sanders' proposal.

Well, some of your fellow Alumni just weren't satisfied and kept fighting for our Alma Mater. Our Association President, Robert Canady, went to battle for EHS, and attended every community meeting, standing for the cause, hoping either he or someone else would say just the right thing to change the decision. (You may have caught glimpses and/or sound bites of him on the local news.)

Something was said that raised a brow. This began a series of smaller meetings with Dr. Sanders, CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and other CMSD administrators. Our Association President, Robert Canady, as well as our Executive Board Chair, Rhonda Young-Hurt, Joe Kennedy, Community Leader (EHS Alumna), Pastor Rufus Webb (EHS Alumna) of New Directions Church of God in Christ, Bishop Hilton (Tabernacle of Faith Church), Mittie Jordan (EHS Alumnae)and many other community leaders and parents tirelessly showed up, walked the walk, talked the talk and fought the battle, providing facts, figures and alternatives.

Dr. Sanders was, throughout the entire process, straight forward, honest, respectful and worthy of the utmost respect. He took his hits with grace and dignity and for that, we are eternally grateful. He listened with empathetic ears and let us know when we had provided him with new information. There was never a reason to distrust him. He gave us the opportunity to submit a proposal for a merger of East and MLK Academy. We did.

Dr. Sanders will hold a press conference on June 2nd, announcing the result of many tough conversations and long meetings. Please look for it on your local news channels.

Community / School Board Meeting Invites

Calling ALL BLUE BOMBER ALUMNI, as well as Ward 7 Community members!

You are urged and encouraged to show up in mass numbers to the meetings being held at East High School on Friday, January 29th and Monday, February 1st with regard to the closing of East High School. As of yet, no resolve has been granted as to the question about where the students of East will be educated if and when the school closes.

Please... put this meeting on your schedule as an IMPORTANT MEETING. Bring your student. If you're the student, bring your parent. Bring a community leader. Bring a friend!

This is OUR community. This is OUR school. One of the newest in the CMSD!

Get on the Official East High School Alumni Association's email list in just a click by visiting our website! http://www.orgsites.com/oh/easthighschoolalumniassociation

BLUE BOMBERS SOUND OFF

Fellow Blue Bombers:

Our Alma Mater is slated to CLOSE, due to the District's newly announced 'Academic Transformation Plan' (the "Plan" can be viewed by visiting the CMSD website- www.cmsdnet.net- it's on the home page). The Plan calls for modification of some schools, and the closing of others. One of those schools slated to close is East High School (one of only two high schools).

While the Plan has been underway for months on end, Ward 7 Councilman T.J. Dow was never given the courtesy of an invite to any of the planning meetings (nor were many other City officials). They've indicated the Plan has no solution to how nor where the students will be educated once the school is closed.

It's no secret that the economy plays a part in some or most of these students and their families' downfalls (these students come to school famished and simply cannot concentrate). Some are victims of circumstance; others are doing the absolute best they can. Whatever the case, the parents would be faced with getting their children to school in a district further away, while bus fare has been increased yet again and bus lines have been cut!

Some of the reasons cited for the closings are:

*Teacher call-offs * Culture * Gang activity

In a recent press conference, it was stated that 'problem students' are sent to East High School; the school scored 19 out of 100 on the Academic indicator.

East is one of the newest high school buildings in the district. The new gym was built in 2003. The school received statewide acclaim for being a recipient/participant in the Bill & Melinda Gates / Knowledgeworks Small Schools Initiative, which broke the school into four smaller academies (grant-funded), affording the students to concentrate on areas of interest along with general studies. East currently operates under the Small Schools concept. The "Plan" indicates it wants the district to operate its high schools under that same concept.

Also notable is that East received grants and teamed up with the Western Reserve Historical Society and the History Channel to do an archaeological dig at the school, garnering some very interesting finds, that are now on display in a museum inside the school along with historical artifacts, newspapers and other items.

In 2008, a senior at East played the starring role in the CMSD's All-City musical at PlayhouseSquare (Dreamgirls' Effie White).

There have been a lot of good things happening at East in the last decade. You probably only hear about the fights.

This Plan calls for East to close, but for the recently opened Ginn Academy to be "re-purposed", in that it will move into Glenville High School. The Plan gives indicators and measures defining the methods for which the schools were selected for closure, re purposing, etc... On page 56 of the Plan, those results are shown. East scored higher than Glenville in academics by more than double, but received a 'zero' in the Performance Drivers portion (Teacher and Student Attendance, Major Safety Incidents, and the Conditions for Learning Survey). All the schools in the Glenville district are in academic emergency (per the district's Plan). Not all the schools in East's district are. They're in academic watch. The other two indicators on the chart for East & Glenville were about even (Building Condition & Facility Demand). Yet, East is slated to close, and Glenville is getting an addition: Ginn Academy (which is Glenville's former football coach's academy, and we all know the keyword there). Their data wasn't available (3/4 of it anyway) at the time of the Plan survey.

John Adams, the newest high school building in the district, scored lower than East in the Performance Drivers portion as well.

There was actually a lot of time and thought put into the Plan overall, and we're certain that since Dr. Sanders took the time to spearhead the community meeting on January 9th at East High School, that he is in fact interested in hearing what the community leaders, the parents, the students and Alumni have to say (we are curious; is there a reason the meeting wasn't a planning meeting or a kitchen table type meeting, since the topic of closing the school drew almost 1,000 attendees; rather than an after-the-fact meeting?).

We're grateful and appreciative to Councilman Dow, Councilwoman Cleveland and the rest of the Council members who stepped up on the behalf of the students, parents and communities you serve. We will join Councilman T.J. Dow and the City officials as they spearhead the efforts to gather facts and gain answers to all of our questions.We look to join and assist them in this quest.

We thank Dr. Sanders, who has since his arrival in Cleveland, been a supporter of the EHSAA as well as other Alumni Associations.. please provide truth and transparency in your responses and your actions.

Blue Bombers, SOUND OFF!!