Lorain Schools will repurpose Frank Jacinto, Garfield elementaries next year

LORAIN – Lorain Schools will repurpose Frank Jacinto Elementary, not Washington Elementary, to accommodate students with autism. The specialized school, meant to serve students currently transported to facilities outside the district due to their level of need, will see the 450-student capacity building near the high school repurposed for the 2026-27 school year. The news came unexpectedly to staff Monday afternoon, according to comments at that night's Board of Education meeting. Clayton Larson, a special education teacher at Frank Jacinto Elementary, said he was notified of the change hours before the board meeting that evening. "Our community did not get a chance to talk about our building," he said, and called the late notice "disrespectful." Jacinto was one of two under consideration for the autism school, while Garfield and Hawthorne elementaries were being considered for the preschool-only building. Garfield Elementary will be repurposed to serve as the sole site for the half-day preschool classes. Moving to half-day preschool at a centralized location will see the district eliminate a community support specialist, 13 teachers, 23 paraprofessionals and a building administrator. Similarly, Alexis Simon, a fifth grade teacher at Jacinto, believed the changes surrounding the upcoming budget cuts, staff reductions and building shifts had caused a lot of angst within the community. She echoed Larson's statements that Frank Jacinto Elementary is a place children go to feel safe, noting many students come there not just for an education, but meals and coats. She also expressed concern that students may be redistricted to Toni Morrison Elementary on West 40th Street, which may force students from the nearby Marshall Plaza Apartments to walk down Leavitt Road to get to school rather than just crossing Marshall Avenue. On Tuesday, Superintendent Jeff Graham said the buildings chosen for repurposing were based on location, staffing needs when redistricting and building size. The late decision between Frank Jacinto and Washington elementaries came, in part, because the district needed information from the city about planned high-density residential units — such as if there were additional apartment buildings planned for Marshall Plaza — that would affect enrollment. With two buildings being repurposed, the remaining eight elementary schools' boundaries will shift to accommodate students and, by extension, staff will move to new buildings. The district plans to cut more than 160 positions for the coming school year, as outlined in a plan submitted to the state to account for a more than $17 million deficit. Damage travels upstream Part of those cuts includes ending dance classes at the elementary and middle schools, and choir at the middle and high schools. Of the 167 proposed reductions in force for the coming school year, 106 are in the Lorain Education Association, which represents teachers (including elective courses like dance), school counselors, social workers and speech language pathologists. During Monday's meeting, high school and General Johnnie Wilson students joined educators filling the board room in hopes of persuading district officials to make cuts elsewhere and save their programs. Ava Colon, a senior at Lorain High, said the arts give students who may not be adept at sports a way to express themselves and work together. "Many students will lose a safe space where they feel connected and included, inspired to be themselves without the pressure of the outside world," she said. Her castmates for the upcoming "Seussical the Musical" echoed her concerns, including one student who transferred from a local charter school to take part in Lorain's arts offerings. She said she conducted a short survey of 30 of her peers and found that more than half want to pursue a career in theater or continue it in college. It also found of the 30 students surveyed, 27 reported they had been bullied, and 24 reported they had thoughts of suicide. The vast majority found social and emotional support within the district's drama department. "I dread the idea we're losing the very people that make so much life within our schools," the student said of the theater and dance teachers. Jose Cruz, a student at General Johnnie Wilson Middle School pushed for continued funding of the dance and arts programs at his building, noting they are welcoming spaces to students who may struggle with making friends or who are shy. "Some kids struggle with personal issues at home not letting them experience their childhood," he said. "So this is why I think we should keep funding these clubs." Kelly Berick, chair of the schools' dance department, shared letters in support of the kindergarten-through-12th-grade program from state and national dance organizations. Lorain Schools added robust arts offerings starting with the 2022-23 school year, with district officials lauding the benefits music, visual arts and dance offerings have for graduation rates and student success. It partnered with the National Dance Education Organization to design its curriculum and studio spaces, and on Monday, Berick submitted a letter from the NDEO to the Board in support of Lorain Schools' program. That letter, shared with The Chronicle-Telegram by its author, NDEO Executive Director Ray Schwartz, noted the NDEO is not trying to minimize the financial pressures the Board of Education faces, but to offer its perspective as longtime partners in the schools' dance curriculum. A reduction of eight dance teaching positions within the district is a near-total elimination of the program, he wrote, effectively erasing dance from elementary and middle school students' lives and undoing years of curriculum development and student growth. Others are watching Lorain Schools as proof the offering of dance throughout a high-need district is possible. Dismantling that does more than just hurt Lorain students, he wrote. "A near-total dismantling of the program would send a deeply discouraging signal to the broader field — that even celebrated, community-driven, data-supported programs are ultimately too fragile to survive budget pressures," Schwartz wrote. "This is not the legacy we believe (Lorain Schools) wants to leave." Other supporters included Helen Buck-Pavlick, a doctoral education policy student at The Ohio State University, and Jane D'Angelo, executive director of OhioDance, who each submitted letters to the district in defense of the dance program, later shared with The Chronicle. "When K-12 programs are cut, university dance faculty notice," D'Angelo wrote. "Incoming students arrive underprepared. Audition pools shrink. Departments are forced to remediate foundational techniques instead of advancing students toward professional-level work. Over time, enrollment declines, and university programs – facing their own budget pressures – become vulnerable to cuts of their own. The damage at the K-12 level does not stay there, it travels upstream." Similarly, Buck-Pavlick noted research examining Lorain's dance and arts offerings has been published in Arts Education Policy Review and presented at national conferences. "Lorain built something rare: A nationally recognized, research-adjacent, universally accessible dance program that other districts across the country were actively seeking to replicate," Buck-Pavlick wrote. "Dismantling it will be felt not only by the students and families in this community, but by a field that looked to Lorain as proof of what is possible." Carol Correthers, vice president of the Lorain Education Association, said the district is at a "devastating crossroads." She recognized the upcoming budget shortfall, but said the community cannot stand silently by and accept a plan that balances that budget on the backs of those who touch students' lives every day. She urged officials to reevaluate the plan, including further cuts from the top of the organizational chart, and save educators from the impossible burden of being asked to do more with less. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.