CPS Board of Education, City Council hold joint meeting to address growing issues

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The Cincinnati City Council and the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education held a joint meeting on Wednesday to address growing problems in the city’s school district.

Student homelessness, a nursing shortage and transportation delays are what city and district officials said were the key issues discussed.

Around 3,500 students were identified by the district as homeless from 2022 to 2023, which officials said isn’t just a problem for students’ mental and physical health, but their education. Students experiencing homelessness are 87 percent more likely to drop out.

“We’re missing about 28,000 affordable housing units,” Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney said. “That’s why we have the affordable housing fund. We are really working hard to increase affordable housing.”

Cincinnati School Board President Ben Lindy said less than 50% of buses are getting students to school on time, a number he said might improve if all drivers reported their arrival times, and is still an improvement over previous numbers.

“We want 100% all the time, but I think we have to celebrate progress and this is a real improvement,” Lindy said. “We had a strategy and a plan and we’re going to keep pushing until we get to 100.”

The district has 45 nurses employed currently, who are employed by the city’s health department. Kearney said the city is always looking to improve health care across the board and the health department is looking at which schools need more nurses.

Kearney said she hopes the council and the board of education continue to have joint meetings and suggested they be held once a quarter.

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