From the Editor:
Mayor-elect Campbell can venture deep into school-improvement trenches 

Charlise Lyles, editor

 

If there is a shining legacy of Mayor Michael R. White’s 12 years in office, it is the appointment of Barbara Byrd-Bennett to lead the reform of Cleveland’s public schools.

Still, the job of mending this district’s battered classrooms and aspirations has only just begun. What will Cleveland’s Mayor-elect Jane Campbell do to build upon White’s legacy? How far will she venture into the education trenches? CATALYST reporting over the past 28 months suggests a number of ripe opportunities for Campbell: 

In the late 1960s, Cleveland looked bad, its neighborhoods and thoroughfares littered with trash. And nobody seemed to care, except Cleveland Mayor Carl B. Stokes. He launched Cleveland Now, a city clean-up campaign that rallied residents to tidy up their neighborhoods. It succeeded, and a great swell of civic pride washed over the city. 

Today, Cleveland suffers from a similar case of apathy toward its schools. While some businesses, organizations and residents have taken up the cause of school improvement, the overwhelming majority remain indifferent. Campbell’s challenge is to rally the whole community—from city employees to bowling leagues—around school improvement. She can urge and help organize hands-on participation, such as book drives and student mentoring. As important, she can help Byrd-Bennett communicate the complex work of transforming schools. The literacy campaign that Campbell and Byrd-Bennett are about to launch along with the Cleveland Teachers Union is a good start. 

As the district moves forward with the largest building rehabilitation project in its history, it’s clear that some new schools will be built. The mayor can help the district and residents envision these new facilities as more than just school buildings. She can help guide the search for answers to questions such as: How can a new school integrate learning into the fabric of a community? Can it be designed to provide desperately needed services such as healthcare? How can a new facility be used to attract middle-class parents to Cleveland schools? 

Finally, Campbell steps into office just as LTV Steel, once a mainstay of regional employment, shuts down its furnaces. As bitter as it is, the plant closing presents Campbell with an opportunity to promote a broader view of the role of Cleveland schools. If Greater Cleveland is to become a magnet for the high-tech industries that are replacing the nation’s gasping steel industry, it must develop a solid, core work force. The youth in Cleveland’s schools are the most likely candidates. An education that develops their creativity, intellect, skills and work ethic is critical.

Having forged good working relationships with neighboring mayors and county commissioners, Campbell is well positioned to promote the view that the region’s economic destiny is inextricably bound to the quality of Cleveland’s schools. 

With the awarding of a $20,000 grant, the Thomas H. White Foundation has joined the growing family of CATALYST financial supporters. Established in 1913, the White Foundation has funded a myriad of education and human service programs in Greater Cleveland and elsewhere. We are honored that the White Foundation has chosen to support our efforts to provide independent news and analysis of Cleveland’s school improvement efforts. 

DURRETT WAGNER 1929-2001 
On Nov. 21, Durrett Wagner, our copy editor and friend, died after a year-long battle with lung cancer. From our inaugural issue in August 1999, Durrett applied his meticulous grammatical skills and pure love of language to make our reports read as smoothly and accurately as possible. 
For more than a decade, Durrett copy-edited our sister publication CATALYST: Voices of Chicago School Reform. He was deeply committed to the work of both editions. Just days before going into the hospital, he telephoned to find out when our articles would be ready for him.

Durrett was a renaissance man of myriad interests and achievements. At one time he was a social science professor and academic dean at an Illinois college; at another, co-owner of a small publishing company. 
We will miss him. We will miss his pen.