CINCINNATI —

The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education approved the transportation contract with the Southwest Ohio regional Transportation Authority (SORTA) Monday ahead of the new school year.

The contract was approved unanimously during a board meeting.

The contract will allow CPS students in grades 9-12 to ride public transportation to and from school activities during the school year.

The deal also allows seventh and eighth grade students who participate in extra-curricular activities to ride the Metro home.

Middle school students will continue to ride yellow buses to and from school at normal pick up times.

“Transportation is a key component of ensuring our students can get to school safely and on time,” said CPS Superintendent Iranetta Wright. “I am very grateful the CPS and Metro teams came together to ensure our students will have the most direct transportation to and from school this year.”

Students will receive route postcards in the mail from the CPS Transportation Department before the start of school.

The postcards will have more information for how high school students can get to and from school.

The postcard will also serve as students’ bus pass on August 18, the first day of school.

Students will pick up their Metro passes from their school on the first day of school.

“We are proud of our long history of serving students and families and look forward to our continued partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools during this upcoming school year,” said Darryl Haley, Metro CEO & General Manager. ‘We are committed, as always, to providing safe, on-time and reliable service that connects students to classes throughout the city.”

Seventh and eighth grade students participating in after-school activities can also pick up their Metro cards from their school.

If students do not receive their route cards by August 15 or have additional questions, they are encouraged to call the CPS’ transportation hotline at 513-363-RIDE (7433), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit them online.

CPS will host a virtual Transportation Information Session for parents on Sunday, Aug. 14, at 4 p.m.

For more information visit the CPS website.

CINCINNATI —

The largest school district in the region could consider bringing back mandatory driver's education.

Conversations are swirling in the Cincinnati Public School district following a traffic blitz by the Cincinnati Police Department.

"A little more than 30 percent of the people who were cited didn't even have a driver's license," said Cincinnati City Councilman Mark Jeffreys. "I think it was 34 percent. It's mind-blowing."

CPD stopped 101 drivers without a valid license during the two-week blitz.

"For a lot of kids, they can't afford the 400 or 500 dollars that it costs to do in car education," Jeffreys said.

He is one of the driving forces behind the idea.

"We don't control CPS. It is a separate organization. I think the role that we can play is convener. It's an issue that affects all of us here in the city," he said, adding that he has been talking with several leaders within the school district.

Michael Belcuore manages AAA's driver education program out of the Hyde Park office. He has been helping students drivers learn to navigate the roads for almost a decade.

"The kids now take the class online and then come to us for the eight hours of in-car that's required," he said.

He said most schools got rid of their driver's ed programs due to risk and cost.

"It's a money thing. It's expensive. It's expensive to run that. It's a liability thing," he said. "You hear schools talk all the time about wanting to go back to it."

He said he was both surprised and not surprised to hear Cincinnati Public Schools may consider trying to go back to how things used to be, requiring driver's education in its high schools for the first time in at least two decades.

"In a lot of the schools, a kid being able to realistically get their license can be a life changer," Belcuore said. "Absolutely, I understand why they're looking at it."

A CPS spokesman said there is a joint school board and city council meeting at Woodward Career Technical High School Nov. 10. The spokesman expects pedestrian safety issues and driver's education to be brought up during community discussion.

CINCINNATI —

A violent week in Cincinnati left a 16-year-old dead, multiple teens shot and at least two hospitalized with serious injuries, from multiple shootings across the city.

There are men and women working tirelessly to help at-risk youth and keep them safe in every school and neighborhood.

Two Cincinnati Public Schools basketball coaches are prime examples. Roberto Allen and Jarelle Redden graduated from Cincinnati Public Schools and each have spent many years giving back as coaches.

"The thing is what don't we do? The coaching part is the easy part," Allen said.

He is the varsity boy's basketball head coach at Withrow University High School.

"I get phone calls at 11 o'clock at night because somebody is having a home situation that I have to manage, and I welcome that," Allen said. "Some kids call me dad behind closed doors. I may be a big brother or an uncle to some... I'm an important figure that they can come talk to, look at, model, ask questions, lean on, cry on, ask for advice."

His team went won 16 games this year. He is equally proud of their high grade point average and how they have grown as men. None of that is accidental.

"I purposefully practice late every day so our kids are so tired from their regular school day, the weight room and a hard practice, they don't want to go outside. They want to go home, shower, finish homework and go to sleep."

Allen admits the job can be all consuming and frustrating.

"We basically pay to coach here in CPS," Allen said. "I have to CashApp kids some money sometimes because they're hungry at home."

He keeps coming back year after year because there were coaches who were there for him when he was growing up in the inner city, facing some of the most difficult challenges a child can face.

"I have friends that coach outside the district, and I hear the difference in what they have to manager and what we have to manage here in CPS. Different worlds," he said. "It's frustrating at times to know that some of those districts pay three times as much as we get paid here."

Jarelle Redden is the head coach of the varsity boy's basketball team at Woodward Career Technical High School.

"We're constantly checking on them. We know where they live. We know their neighborhoods," he said.

Just Thursday, a student was shot off campus and ran back to the school for help, prompting a brief lockdown. The student was rushed the hospital and remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Redden said his student athletes are often surrounded by chaos and have to learn to work through that. They teach their athletes to strive for a scholarship, a chance to get an education through the game they love.

"We kind of provide tools for them outside of basketball through basketball," Redden said. "We win when everyone graduates and they move on."

His team is focused on the playoffs at the moment. They won their second straight sectional championship this year.

"A lot of our kids have families, but we're just like the other family. Some don't. And we're there to provide that comfort that they're looking for," he said. "The real coaching is off the court."

Allen said inner city teams and coaches need more support from the community. He urges community members to get involved, for example by volunteering to tutor or donating food items.

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools announced every child in the district will get access to digital learning, but exactly how big of a role that will play next school year is still to be determined.

With CPS students being out of class since mid-March, nearly 400 people tuned into the district’s Wednesday evening special meeting. Superintendent Laura Mitchell outlined four options for the fall, something she called “the presentation of a lifetime.”

“I hope that we’re never, ever in this situation again,” she said.

The options for fall include:

• In-person learning five days a week -- Of the four, this would present the highest COVID-19 transmission risk and require more money for buses and staffing in order to observe social distancing. Members say it would handle many parents’ childcare concerns.

• Blended learning -- This would bring students in one or two days a week, which would present a medium infection risk and partially address childcare.

• Distance learning with everyone at home -- This would present the lowest risk of transmission and keep costs low, but it leaves many parents returning to work with nowhere to send their children.

• Hybrid learning -- This would mean in-person instruction for students pre-kindergarten up to 6th grade and keeping 7th through 12th graders home except for one or two days a month. That would present a medium infection risk and address childcare concerns for those with young children.

Schoology, an online grading and assignment sharing platform, and CPS-TV, a dedicated local channel for educational material launched in April, comes with each option. The district also has a digital school.

“We identified what has to be in place in order for us to be able to say we are ready to go,” Mitchell said Wednesday night.

More than 6,000 students, parents, employees and community members shared which option they would like to see in the fall, and 71% of parents surveyed said they were "extremely concerned or concerned" with "students' ability to effectively learn in a remote environment."

Additionally, 74% of parents said they were "extremely concerned or concerned" when it comes to "students' mental/emotional health during periods of remote learning."

“Pretty impressive sort of feelings, strong feelings about mental, emotional health as well as ability to learn,” said Krista Boyle, CPS chief communication and engagement officer.

Through the survey, CPS found that four "high level" concerns emerged, including consistent learning standards and equitable access to best tools and instruction, targeted communications, universal access to technology and IT support and social and emotional development "as important as academic growth."

While the details for fall are ironed out, it’s clear no option comes without its challenges; questions remain about how each option affects staffing, busing, after school sports and extracurricular activities.

“A group of 22 kids might all go to gym together from a classroom, so maybe you break that down into a smaller group,” Mitchell said.

Board Member Ben Lindy questioned if staffing changes were feasible during the transition this fall.

“Does this mean we’re doubling the number of elementary school teachers we have in CPS? Do we have money for that?” he asked.

Additional funding beyond the recent CARES Act would be needed to support meal distribution, technology, connectivity as school leaders estimate pandemic costs ranging from $35 million to $70 million. Officials are encouraging "direct-to-district funding" and hope to meet with legislators soon to learn more about a new recovery bill and the status of additional K-12 funding.

The Board is scheduled to vote on the fall plan on June 22, and a Strategic Engagement and Planning Committee will meet prior to that vote.

Also in June, CPS is launching a “Connect Our Students” program, a no-cost offer to qualifying families without internet access. The program will launch at a date to-be-determined for 2,000 students at five pilot schools: Rockdale Academy, South Avondale School, Hays – Porter School, Roberts Academy and Fairview-Clifton German Language School.

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation is administering the “CPS Technology Fund” without fees (except for required credit-card processing fees) so the fund receives 100% of donations. You can donate through ComputerXpress here or to the fund directly here.

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools hopes to be the first district in Ohio to adopt a specific anti-racism policy that focuses on how racism affects its Black students and staff. It's an ambitious goal, and school board members want help getting it right.

“This will be a big policy, and it requires a ton of conversation and input,” said CPS school board member Mike Moroski. “This is not something that happens in the general counsel’s office and then is passed by board members.”

The board started working on the policy in early June, and Moroski estimates it could take a year for it to be finalized. Although there is a draft already available, board members will get public feedback and make changes as they move forward.

Once it’s adopted, Moroski said, he wants the policy to be a road map for the future.

“When this current group of seven board members are gone and Laura Mitchell is gone, that the other seven and that new superintendent, when they’re in those seats, they have to abide by this,” Moroski said.

CPS already has an equality policy that is all-encompassing and addresses racism and other related topics. The new, more specific, policy would focus on fighting racism against Black students and staff.

“We’re hyper-focused on the students and their education and how Black students are disproportionately affected by racism and structures of racism than white students,” Moroski said. “The same goes for building administrators, teachers -- this is a sickness that we would like to purge CPS of."

The board met Friday afternoon to discuss the draft policy and figure out how to meet the goal of overcoming the racist structures that are in place in the district. Moroski said the aim isn’t to punish or coddle CPS students but instead to educate them.

“But the days we live, in this reality today, racism defines all of our systems, and here is how you are a small cog in that wheel and here is an opportunity to be disruptive,” he said.

The board said it will be transparent about and deliberate about the process of finalizing the policy, which includes gathering public feedback and making adjustments if needed. Friday it decided to put together a 21-person working group to review the policy, which will include students, parents, staff and community groups. This group will meet at least once before the next policy committee meeting on Sept. 4.

“There’s been a lot of sunlight on this policy already, and there’s going to need to be a lot more to get it right,” Moroski said.

To view a copy of the draft policy, click here

WCPO 9 News presented a look at Tri-State schools and their plans to reopen -- or keep students home -- during the coronavirus pandemic.

You can watch each segment of the WCPO special in the video players below. You can also find more information and important updates on back-to-school plans for each district on our Back to School tab.

Schools moving class starts online

Schools moving start of school online

Parents express childcare concerns at CPS virtual town halls

Parents express childcare worries at CPS virtual town hall

Tracking students who fall behind in online learning

Tracking students who may have fallen off

Wyoming Fine Arts Center using learning pods

Wyoming Fine Arts Center using learning pods

Tri-State schools preparing for socially-distanced learning

Tri-State schools preparing for socially-distanced learning

Pleasant Ridge parent volunteers make learning tools for families

Acts of Kindness: Parent volunteers make learning tools for families

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Public Schools board of education approved non-contact sports starting within the district this week, and contact sports like football can begin next week.

A decision on spectators at sporting events will be forthcoming, according to a CPS spokesperson late Thursday.

Academically, everything stays the same as it was for at least another week, the board decided during Monday's meeting. The board reached a consensus to get to a blended learning option as soon as data allows it.

The board will meet again on Sept. 21 to discuss what Labor Day’s COVID-19 numbers look like, as school officials said it’s still too soon to know.

Cincinnati Public Schools parent Mandy Carroll is the parent of a third-grader and a high school freshman.

“Now we’re finally hitting our stride,” she said. “Getting into the groove. Both my children are expressing extreme anxiety about coming back with COVID.”

Caution appeared to be on the mind of many parents who spoke via webcam.

“I don’t think it’s worth it to rush into this – and to open sports,” meeting participant Daniel Brenner said. “We don’t want to be another statistic."

Other meeting participants voiced frustration that online learning isn’t the best option.

“It takes constant interaction with a parent for her to do well in school,” parent Beth Sundermann said. “With two working parents in the family, it doesn’t work.”

Two weeks into the online curriculum and more than 5,000 students aren’t participating in school at all.

“Ask any parent of a 4-year-old or a 6-year-old how remote learning is working,” parent Jessica Powell asked. “And I guarantee that you’ll get an answer that it’s not."

Superintendent Laura Mitchell said she’s looking toward the future.

“No matter what decision is made, we’re ready to move forward,” she said.

There are three possibilities on the table for CPS:

• Continue online learning
• Move to a hybrid plan
• Go back to full-time in-classroom learning

“These kids deserve to play,” said Jerome Belcher, who participated in the online meeting. “The numbers justify it as you’ve already read. That’s why I don’t see there’s any reason why they wouldn’t allow them to play.”

Cincinnati Federation of Teachers president Julie Sellers spoke last.

“It’s important that you’re looking and thinking about all aspects before any decision is made,” she said. “I don’t think it will improve the educational options to go back part time."

CINCINNATI —

A new law going into effect Wednesday bans vaccine mandates in Ohio public schools.

The law was passed in July and bans public school mandates of any vaccine that has not been fully approved by the FDA.

Pfizer has been fully approved for anyone over the age of 16.

Cincinnati Public Schools are as affected as any district by the new law.

“We’re the only district in Ohio who has a vaccination requirement for staff,” CPS board member Mike Moroski said.

Moroski said there is also a plan for a student vaccine mandate in the works.

“As policy chair, I ensured the language in our policy mirrored what the state law was going to be, which is what it is now, meaning if you wanted the vaccination, you had to get one that had FDA approval,” Moroski said.

There is also a component of the new law that says vaccinated and unvaccinated must be treated the same. So, schools could not put unvaccinated students in separate classrooms or require them to go to virtual school, unless it applies to all students.

There is a difference of opinion about whether schools can require unvaccinated to get regular COVID-19 tests.

“Our policy of submitting a negative test, there’s nothing in this state law that prohibits us from doing that,” Moroski said.

Others believe students and staff cannot be required to take the COVID-19 tests.

“I think that would percolate in the courts a little bit, just off of the initial reading, I’d say ‘no’ they cannot,” attorney Jason Phillabaum said.

Phillabaum said there are more vaccine mandate bans yet to come.

“This was passed three or four months ago when they first started to make mandates, and now, I think you’re starting to see some updated legislation that would prohibit the fully approved vaccine mandates as well,” Phillabaum said.

If the student vaccine mandate gets out of committee, CPS will vote on it on Oct. 28.

CINCINNATI — A First Student school bus was involved in a crash with another vehicle in Westwood on Wednesday morning, according to Cincinnati police and Cincinnati Public Schools.

Cincinnati police confirmed there were Taft Elementary School students on the bus at the time of the crash and some had minor injuries, but no one was transported to the hospital.

The students were picked up by their parents.

K-12 teachers in Ohio could begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as early as Feb. 1, provided their districts agree to return to in-person or hybrid learning by March 1. Lakota Local Schools superintendent Matt Miller is already making plans.

“We want to be ready,” he said Friday afternoon. “We want to be prepared as quick as we can for those that do want it.”

Feb. 1 isn’t far away. In the 23 days remaining, Miller and other superintendents throughout Ohio must decide on a return to in-person learning, survey their staff to learn which will be vaccinated, create a vaccination plan with the help of local health officials and communicate each development with students’ families.

TIMELINE: When Ohioans can get the COVID-19 vaccine

“That’s something we’re not used to in schools, obviously, but something that our partners are,” Miller said of the complex logistical task in front of him. “We’re relying on them to help us with some of the logistics and coordination and timing all of that.”

Lakota will return to full-time, in-person classes for most students during the spring semester. Only students who specifically opted out will learn online.

The same is true for Lockland Local School District, where superintendent Bob Longworth said he trusts his public health partners to create a plan that’s best for everyone in the distrct.

“We’re in very good hands in this region of the state,” he said. “We’re very confident in publc health and the work they’re going to do to coordinate the logistics.”

Most staff members in both districts are eager to be vaccinated, the superintendents said.

“Each day, our goal is to make sure that we can open up the doors the following day for the students and families that need us,” said Longworth.

That’s about 552 students for him and 15,000 for Miller.

Cincinnati Public Schools, which serves 36,000, has yet to make a decision about its own possible return to in-person learning. The district’s board of education meets next on Jan. 16 to examine local health data and discuss a possible end to remote learning.

And all of their plans rely on Ohio receiving enough vaccine to cover the increasingly large population eligible for the shot.

According to Mike DeWine, the state expects to get about 100,000 doses each week for the next several weeks. By the time teachers become eligible to receive the vaccine, they’ll be in line alongside hundreds of thousands of seniors who became eligible before they did.

CINCINNATI — As Cincinnati Public Schools district officials planned to meet Saturday to review their COVID-19 safety plan, one couple urged board of education members to prioritize making in-person instruction, or a blend of in-person and remote learning, an option again.

Scott and Katrina Hardy said they and their three children -- all CPS students -- have rolled with the punches the last 10 months after the district went fully remote in light of the coronavirus pandemic reaching the Tri-State. With the exception of a short period before the Thanksgiving holiday break, CPS students have not seen their classrooms since March.

"CPS administrators and board members are the ones who have kept our schools closed while other school districts have returned," the Hardys wrote. "Now is the time for you to offer the children and parents of CPS the option to return to 'in person' learning."

Scott Hardy told WCPO Friday that he thinks it's time the district adjust its plan based on the latest data and recommendations by health officials.

"We just thought that, as the guidelines change, it's time for Cincinnati public to step up and adjust their policies and adjust their criteria for getting kids back into school," he said. "When I see friends at work and they say, 'Oh, how are your kids doing in school?' they are shocked when I tell them they're not in school."

In their letter, the Hardys pointed to state officials' decision to suspend the requirement that any K-12 student exposed to COVID-19 quarantine at home for two weeks and attend school virtually and to other nearby districts that have since returned to blended instruction models.

"It just would be so much easier for the kids, and I know for the teachers, to be in school, where they can pull out groups and have different groups working on different things," Katrina Hardy said.

They are also hopeful the rollout of vaccines will convince district leaders at least to offer the option to send kids back to the classroom.

"Above anything else, we believe in choices for people," Scott Hardy said.

WCPO reached out to CPS Friday but did not immediately hear back. The CPS Board of Education will meet with Superintendent Laura Mitchell at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Per Gov. Mike DeWine, an Ohio school can be eligible to receive vaccinations for its staff only if they indicate by Monday, Jan. 18, a plan to return to in-person learning by March 1. The Ohio Department of Health said schools can submit such plans later than Monday, but those schools will sit further down the list for vaccination delivery.

Read the Hardys' full letter to CPS officials in the viewer below:

Open Letter to Cincinnati Public Schools re: in-person learning by WCPO Web Team on Scribd

CINCINNATI — A high school boys basketball game ended prematurely Wednesday night after an "unsportsmanlike act" late in the third quarter of the Oyler at New Miami matchup.

An Oyler player appeared to have kicked a New Miami player after fouling him with 2:28 remaining in the third quarter, according to game footage recorded by Butler County Sports Report. The game ended without resuming afterward.

Cincinnati Public Schools spokesperson Frances Russ issued a statement late Friday afternoon:

"During the third quarter, a hard foul occurred, followed by an unsportsmanlike act on the part of an Oyler player. Cincinnati Public Schools and Oyler High School do not condone such conduct, and administrators and coaches met with the Oyler student following the game. His actions were addressed in accordance with CPS student athletics policies.

"Subsequently, it has been reported on social media and elsewhere that, during the game, racial comments were directed toward Oyler players. CPS takes these reports seriously and is investigating.

"On December 4, 2020, the Board of Education implemented an anti-racism policy which has as its central purpose the elimination of racism in all of its forms in programs and activities of Cincinnati Public Schools. Critical to the implementation of that policy is ensuring that the young Black men and women of Cincinnati Public Schools know they are supported and heard."

The New Miami Middle School/High School Facebook page also posted a statement late Friday afternoon from superintendent Rhonda Parker.

"Wednesday evening there was an event that occurred during the Home Basketball Game between New Miami High School and Oyler High School that resulted in an injury to a New Miami player. As a result, the basketball game was ended by a school official. The events that took place during the game are under investigation. Both high schools are following their school district policies, and the issue is also being investigated by local law enforcement.
New Miami will not comment further, as this is an open investigation and involves minor-aged students. Thank you."

New Miami defeated Oyler 50-30 in the non-conference game, which was streamed by Butler County Sports Report.

Butler County Sports Report editor Chris Vogt, the solo broadcaster for the game Wednesday night, told WCPO Friday afternoon he was disappointed to see how it ended.

"I know the representation of high school basketball from point A to point B. That's just not what you want to see," Vogt said. "And I do hope that high school basketball in this area can make amends and hopefully we can learn from a situation like this."

RELATED: Sign for our new high school sports newsletter
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Vogt, who has operated the Butler County High School Sports Report since July 2018 and covers 13 Butler County high schools, expressed dismay live on the broadcast, too.

"It was unfortunate that the situation did occur," Vogt said. "Calling the game leading up to that instance — there wasn't really an ounce, a mindset, that would've led up to that situation.

"It surprised me on the broadcast. Seeing (New Miami senior guard) Deanza Duncan going up for a layup, he was relatively fouled with force. That did kind of put Deanza on the floor a little bit harder than a typical foul would (for a layup)."

The video shows players scrambling on the court and spectators standing up in the bleachers.

"The Oyler player did stand on top of Deanza, and then I saw him — he did kick him (Duncan) in the face," Vogt said. "That's what kind of threw me for a shock there. The entire game was going decently well. There wasn't really an instinct that I felt led up to a situation like that. I felt as though the entire game was called great by the refs. When you are concentrating on broadcasting a game, you really don't focus on your outside surroundings much. You're just focused on the task at hand and that's providing a broadcast for those who want to watch it."

Vogt said once the situation in the gymnasium improved, the Oyler team walked over and gave New Miami players fist bumps in a friendly gesture before the Madhatters left the gymnasium.

"That was a reassuring sign," Vogt said. "That was good to see after that situation."

New Miami (5-2) is scheduled to play host to Miami Valley Christian at 6:30 p.m. today, according to the school's Facebook page.

Oyler (2-8) is idle and will have its Friday night game rescheduled.

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools Wednesday released details on phasing the district's students back to a blend of remote and in-person learning, a process that will take the entire month of February.

In a statement, the CPS Board of Education's president, Carolyn Jones, said deciding when and how to return students and teachers to their classroom was "no easy task."

"Based on the advice of our health partners, the incredible job the CPS team has done implementing health and safety protocols, the very low level of transmission of the virus within our buildings, and the rollout of the vaccine to CPS staff, the majority of the board believes that it is safe to begin a slow, methodical, phased-in return to blended learning during the month of February," Jones said.

It will be a return to the blended learning schedule the district used in the fall, according to a news release, with most students and teachers returning to their classrooms two days a week. Monday will resume as the day on which all students attend classes virtually from home.

Here's how the district will roll it out:

Week of Feb. 1: pre-kindergarten through third grade, specialized classrooms

• Monday: all students distance learning
• Tuesday-Friday: specialized classrooms and preschool in person
• Tuesday/Wednesday: kindergarten through third grade, group A in person
• Thursday/Friday: kindergarten through third grade, group B in person

Week of Feb. 15: grades four through six and nine through 12 return

• Monday: all students distance
• Tuesday/Wednesday: group A in person
• Thursday/Friday: group B in person

Week of March 1: grades seven and eight return

• Monday: all students distance
• Tuesday/Wednesday: group A in person
• Thursday/Friday: group B in person

During a Jan. 16 meeting with the administration, the board voted to begin returning students to the classroom next month, just three days after Hamilton County appeared purple on the Ohio Department of Health’s color-coded COVID-19 risk map. The board reaffirmed that decision Wednesday evening with a 6-to-1 vote.

"The vaccine will make a critical difference in how we move forward," Jones said.

As part of the state's vaccine rollout plan, Gov. Mike DeWine ordered any school district that wished to provide vaccines for its staff had to make a formal commitment to returning students at least to part-time in-person learning by March 1.

While teachers with Cincinnati Public Schools will start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, other Ohio teachers have to wait a little while longer.

Meg Cottingham is a chemistry teacher at Ross High School, and she sits behind a Plexiglas divider to teach. She said this makes it difficult to teach her students.

"I can't walk over to them and help them at their desk when they need it," Cottingham said.

Cottingham also likes to connect with her students on a personal level, eating lunch with them on bad days and even going on college tours with others if a student's parents can't go.

"I want [the vaccine] because I want to be able to work with the kids," Cottingham said. "I can't do that as long as I don't have the vaccine."

Teachers at Ross High School will have the vaccine available to them starting next week. The vaccine is not mandatory for teachers at the school.

CINCINNATI —

As the parent of two Cincinnati public school students, Roger Jackson is curious to see if district leaders will require teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"We've never been through this type of thing before," Jackson said. "It's like just shoot and see what happens, you know what I mean."

Since a fully approved coronavirus vaccine is now part of the arsenal that could finally stop COVID-19 in its tracks, Jackson hopes teachers have to take the shot.

"Everybody's entitled to their own opinions and outcomes and what they choose to do," the father of two teenagers said. "But I feel like, you know, the kids and the teachers – because of their situation of being in such close contact every day -- I feel like they should."

Jackson's view is shared by members of CPS' Board Policy and Equity Committee.

"I think I’m inclined to support a vaccine requirement," committee member Ben Lindy said.

But Lindy isn't sure what a vaccine requirement for teachers and other workers in the district would look like.

"I think there are different choices about how we do it," Lindy said. "One is a blanket requirement. One is a requirement or a mask. One is a requirement or a test."

If board members do implement a requirement, Julie Sellers, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, wonders if it would apply to vaccine-eligible students 12 and older. Sellers also said she hopes vaccine reluctance won't lead to lost jobs.

"I don’t want to have to get into a legal battle over this," Sellers said. "I don’t want to go and have to justify this. But people have statutory rights on terminations."

That's one of many issues the board needs to consider quickly, since colder air will soon force students and teachers into closer quarters indoors.

"There is a reason, medically, there's a reason seasonally, to be focused on it," committee member Eve Bolton said.

After meeting Thursday, CPS' Board Policy and Equity Committee will meet again Sept. 13. That's when a vote on a vaccine requirement for CPS staff members could happen, meaning first shots would be required to go into teachers' arms as soon as the first day of October.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education will consider making a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory among district staff.

The board's Policy and Equity Committee Thursday morning advanced the proposal to the full board. As proposed Thursday, the policy would require all district employees to receive one of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. The would-be deadline for employees to receive those shots was left unclear Thursday morning, as the full board still needs to consider the policy. Staff would have the option to apply for an exemption from the policy.

The measure will go to the full board for discussion next month.

The committee's ruling came days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval status to Pfizer's two-shot COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 years and older, with Moderna also in the process of applying for full FDA approval. According to Ohio law, school districts cannot require vaccines that are not FDA-approved.

Board member Eve Bolton said the decision could risk losing district staff but that it's worth the risk.

"People will quit, and we will lose staff, and I am willing to do that," Bolton said during Thursday's committee meeting.

Committee members stopped short of discussing specifics about requiring the vaccine for students old enough to meet the FDA approval's parameters, but Bolton said she'd be interested in the administration exploring the idea.

The full board of education will consider the policy at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 13.

As Cincinnati Public Schools welcomed back nearly 36,000 students to their classrooms Thursday, district officials said they're making an extra effort to address potential learning loss that might have resulted with some students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Noting one way the district is working proactively to address any slide in preparedness among students, Amat said, "We got a great start on it with our Summer Scholars program. So we had students come in for a month. So we started building those relationships and monitoring where they were academically, taking that knowledge and building forward."

The district also hired 45 reading specialists, citing literacy as the primary need among students catching up, along with additional social workers.

"We hired more social workers to help with those wrap-around services for our students and families," Amat said. "We want to hit it from both ends, making sure we’re taking care of the heart and mind."

Amat began the first day of school with reading in mind. She sat and read with first-graders at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Over-the-Rhine, where Alena Smith is principal. Smith said students being back in the classroom is a refreshing return to some semblance of routine, but the challenges need that proactive approach.

"It feels good to have a certain level of normalcy," she said. "We focus a lot on safety, so ensuring that our students still understand the expectations and the procedures. We're being very intentional. We'll have our bi-weekly data meeting where we are meeting with every teacher. We're identifying what strategies they're putting in place."

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools will require all people entering a school or a building owned or controlled by the district wear masks for the 2021-2022 school year.

The resolution passed unanimously at Wednesday night's board meeting, according to a Tweet from board member Mike Moroski.

This decision follows the recommendations of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other state and local health agencies.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education painted a dismal picture for the crowd at their Wednesday meeting, describing a scenario where 1,000 students catch Metro buses on a busy Clifton Avenue.

That was in response to Metro ending dedicated routes for nearly 6,000 students and forcing them to use new, regular Metro routes instead.

“It’s too dangerous for our students,” Cincinnati Federation of Teachers president Julie Sellers said. “Not fair to our kids.”

It’s not clear how many of those students would then need to transfer to other buses to get to school.

“That means the Cincinnati Police Department will be managing the children,” board member Eve Bolton said. “They will be in the hundreds waiting for the next bus. That’s unacceptable.”

The XTRA routes were put in place decades ago to help students get to school safely – board members said they learned about the changes one week ago.

“They’re choosing what to eliminate, and what they’re choosing is the bus routes for children,” board member Ben Lindy said.

The board unanimously voted to oppose Metro’s elimination of the XTRA routes. They plan to write a letter to SORTA, which oversees Metro, meet with their board members and bring everyone to the table to discuss options.

“This is a service that they wanted to take away – we need a year to figure that out, certainly not three weeks,” board member Mike Moroski said.

Others said stronger actions should be taken.

“(The) district should talk with the legal department to find out if they can seek a temporary injunction prohibiting any change until a real plan can be developed,” Sellers said.

The consensus from board members is that it would take months to reconfigure bus routes – and that’s time they don’t have. School starts in the next few weeks.

“There is irreparable harm,” said David Brenner during the meeting. “It’s a huge safety issue for students.”

The district’s director of transportation – who negotiated the deal with Metro – is now on administrative leave. He’s accused of making decisions without telling senior administrators or the board and misrepresenting the talks with SORTA.

Metro spokesperson Brandy Jones said the new system will be much better for students, partly because it will be more reliable. The XTRA routes missed hundreds of rides a month. By merging school routes with regular routes, those mistakes should be taken care of. Also, she said, it’s too late to make a radical change before classes start.

“There is no time left, 10 days prior to the start of school to redesign our service -- that is not a feasible option,” Jones said. “Per our contract, CPS was to deliver to us the new start times of the school year back in March, that did not occur until July. And so, we were not given the information. Months later, that per the contract, we’re supposed to have back in March.

The issue, she said, comes down to miscommunication. Once parents get a chance to look at the new route information, Jones thinks they will see the enhancements made for students.

“Under the new model, no student will make more than one transfer,” she said. “We had students who, you know, if I missed my bus, if I’m running late, and I’m five minutes late, there’s no other bus that I can take. Now another bus is coming five to seven minutes later your way. And so, if you look at the frequency, the more trip options that students can take, the shorter the trip time.

She said the ride to school will be 10 minutes shorter on average and students will be picked up withing 200 feet of their home. Metro was able to make that adjustment because CPS provided it with every student’s address.

SORTA is hosting a virtual meeting Thursday, August 5 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. where they will discuss the route changes. The meeting will also be streamed on Metro’s Facebook page.

CINCINNATI —

In the last 72 hours, 16-year-old Oliver Santiago made the kind of decision that Tianay Amat fully supports.

"I started thinking (about getting vaccinated)," Santiago said. "I talked to my family, my mom, and she told me, 'Take the vaccine, and everybody is going to be safe.'"

With his family's guidance, Santiago got his first dose of protection against COVID-19 Monday at a clinic for students at Aiken High School.

"It feels good because I'm saving my family, my friends, my community," Santiago said.

Amat said the decision students like Santiago are making -- to get vaccinated -- should help classrooms in the Cincinnati Public School District look and feel more like they did during pre-pandemic days when the new year starts in August.

"Our hope is that we can open five days for all families; that it's a safe environment," Amat said. "We're going to continue to look at our data and monitor and make decisions as we go."

Amat is the district's interim superintendent. She assumed the title after Laura Mitchell announced her resignation last month.

"(I was) born and raised in Brooklyn, New York," she said.

When the native New Yorker came to Greater Cincinnati she worked as a principal in the Princeton City School District and in Lakota's curriculum department.

"Then I had to come back home to CPS, where I reopened Hyde Park school; and now, here as the interim superintendent," Amat said.

At Aiken High School Monday, Amat and principal Lisa Votaw were grateful for local health workers who vaccinated students in an effort to keep the coronavirus out of classrooms, once and for all.

"The kids are excited to have the opportunity," Votaw said. "They're excited. They're relieved. They want to be back at -- normal is really the goal."

in addition to checking on the status of student vaccinations, Amat also focused on the district's Summer Scholars program. As part of the program at Aiken High School, students do four hours of academic work followed by two hours of enrichment activities, which can range from cooking to gardening to playing ping pong with classmates.