Historic no-confidence vote in superintendent should send a message to CPS board | Opinion

It’s hard for taxpayers to wrap our minds around the minutiae of school budgets and contracts. But historic things are happening at Cincinnati Public Schools that our taxpayers should be interested in. The union leaders of all six unions have asked their members to consider a vote of no confidence in our superintendent, Iranetta Wright. To the casual reader, that may sound like a bunch of teachers complaining. It’s actually about all of our employees wanting to preserve the investment our community made in our students. It’s about making sure that our city’s legacy of excellence in education, teaching, and community partnerships remains for future generations.

I am a Cincinnati resident and taxpayer. I have also taught at CPS since 1993 for great and not-as-great superintendents. I am CPS, and I love my work with Cincinnati’s young people. For the past two years, however, it has been disheartening to work for a superintendent and administrative team who have wasted so much money, time and goodwill. While everyone will always have some frustrations with their boss, this administration has crossed lines that make it difficult for work to get done.

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For instance, we’re not allowed to send emails to groups that are too large for reasons never clearly explained to me. We have to wait ? sometimes for weeks and months ? for the superintendent herself to approve spending or make decisions. Nationwide, hiring teachers is more difficult this year than it ever has been, but our superintendent was so late in getting budgets to our principals that it threw the whole process behind by at least four months. This makes it unlikely that we will be able to hire a few of the best and brightest graduates from local colleges as they’ve already been snatched up by districts who have their act together.

The superintendent says she sought out staff and community input on budget priorities, but the options in those surveys and roundtables didn’t mention the things that most union members feel might save our district the most money ? namely, cutting from a bloated administration whose organizational chart has grown from four pages to 37 pages in the two years of Wright’s term. Superintendent Wright hadn’t even considered reducing those positions, even after already letting go of some paraprofessionals, nurses and the "super subs" ? positions that provide direct service to children and keep our schools running.

Wright says she’s met with unions and employees. But meeting is not the same as listening, understanding, collaborating. She’s been in meetings and regularly visits our buildings, but according to an internal survey, 75% of her employees still say that she has not "established processes to communicate and collaborate effectively." The board’s January 2024 annual evaluation of her performance showed she was "significantly below expectations" concerning the way she communicates with everyone, including the board, treasurer, staff and parents.

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These are just a few of the reasons that unions representing not only teachers but secretaries, custodians, electricians, food service workers, carpenters, principals, counselors, interpreters, psychologists, security officers and plant operators have decided that Superintendent Wright has lost the confidence and trust of her employees. To my knowledge, three of the six unions have voted and agreed, and three have yet to vote. If all our unions indeed vote no confidence, it will send a message to our board, who are her employers. They can decide what action they should take.

I hope these votes also send a message to you, my fellow Cincinnati taxpayers. We are the board’s employers. If you’re as inspired as I have been by this historic display of solidarity, this demand that our schools run by the rules, please let the school board know. Make sure the board knows that you value our schools and will not allow one person to diminish them or the people who work in them.

Make sure they listen to the staff who are struggling to do their jobs in support of your children. Make sure the board firms up their policies and procedures so that future leaders aren’t allowed to ignore contracts, timelines, board directives and community demands.

Make sure the board knows that we’ve already lost valuable workers and precious time that we’ll never get back because of the untenable situation Iranetta Wright and her team puts us in.

Glenetta Krause lives in Clifton.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Superintendent Iranetta Wright has lost confidence, trust of employees