CMSD Chief Warren Morgan Wants to Hear From You in Upcoming Listening Session Tour

Warren Morgan (center) at his induction ceremony on May 9, 2023, at Garrett Morgan High School in Ohio City. Credit: Mark Oprea

New CMSD CEO Warren Morgan is going straight to the source to hear what residents need and want from the school district as he begins a listening tour with townhall sessions and coffee chats scheduled Aug. 29 through Sept. 28.

The aim, Morgan said in a video posted on CMSD’s YouTube page, is to gauge how the 107 K-12 schools in the CMSD system could be better laid-out, staffed and operated, following three years of harsh pandemic influence and learning loss.

“I want to hear your concerns and thoughtful critiques,” Morgan said. “I want to know what you think we’re getting right, as well as hear your suggestions on ways we can continue to improve our schools and the delivery of our services.”

Following five months of similar tours and engagement sessions, Mayor Bibb and the CMSD board chose Morgan, the former chief academic officer for the Indianapolis School System, to replace outgoing CEO Eric Gordon, who clocked 12 years as CMSD’s top boss. Gordon is now senior vice president of student development at Tri-C.

As for the results of the September townhalls, it’s likely that parents and stakeholders will voice safety and transportation concerns, given how listening sessions went during the hiring process, along with how CMSD could best spend the remaining $158 million of its American Rescue Plan Act dollars. So far, as of mid-August, CMSD has prioritized Smart boards and new computers, along with millions on mental health services.

A string of shootings outside school doors—the most recent, the shooting of 16-year-old Devonte Johnson on August 17th—have led parents and administrators once again to focus safety and security.

“Going to school, you should not be thinking of your own mortality as often as you’re thinking about algebra,” Owen Pennington, a 16-year-old sophomore at John Hay, told Cleveland.com.

In Morgan’s brief speech at his induction ceremony on May 9th, he highlighted CMSD’s trend of increasing test scores, a definite high mark of the Gordon administration, while hinting briefly at the mental state of the post-COVID teenager.

“If we do not provide a high quality education, and ensure that our students feel safe, seen, heard and valued,” he told the room at Garrett Morgan High, “we will lose them. And they will not be successful.”

Here’s a full schedule for Morgan’s listening tour:

Coffee chats, at 9 a.m.: