Mayor Satisfied With School District’s Progress

Tuesday, July 3, 2007 Download  RSS  Short URL  Share

With a new school board in place and a new school year approaching, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says he's satisfied with the district's progress since CEO Eugene Sanders took control a year ago. ideastream education reporter Dan Bobkoff has more.

Mayor Jackson had this to say when asked how Cleveland Schools CEO Eugene Sanders is doing.

Frank Jackson: His contract got extended a year (laughter).

Kidding aside, Jackson says he’s firmly behind Sanders’ five-year plan to turn around Cleveland’s ailing school district, which includes more magnet schools, school uniforms throughout the district and some single gender schools. On that third item, Sanders rankled some parents with his decision to convert four existing schools to single gender, and he backed away from the plan. Asked if the plan was a mistake, Jackson stood up for the schools chief.

Frank Jackson: You know the only people who don’t make mistakes are people who don’t do anything. The CEO is making decisions, he’s doin’ things.

Before coming to Cleveland, Sanders ran Toledo’s school district. Jackson acknowledges Sanders has had a bit of a learning curve adjusting to how things work here.