School Closing Policy Report.

The issue of school closure has demanded the attention of most school districts serving large urban populations. Factors such as court mandates for desegregation, urban flight, diminishing financial resources, souring operational costs, and declining enrollments have added a mixture of unprecedented circumstances to the issue. The Cleveland School District, faced with many of these problems, needed to develop a school closing policy which effectively deals with them. The purpose of this report was to provide a better understanding of the developed school closing policy, actions, and future plans of the school district. The report focused upon four areas: (1) a literature search which revealed criteria used to determine previous school closings in urban school districts, (2) past actions of the Cleveland School District dealing with school closings, (3) the impact of desegregation on school closings, and (4) recommendations to help establish policy for the future. (Author/MK)