Wednesday, November 28th 2018
CINCINNATI (WKRC) – The Cincinnati Public School district is growing big and fast.
The district says it’s projected to have more than 450 new students in 2019. More families are choosing CPS. In 2018, the number is higher than what district leaders thought it would be. There are 269 more students than projected.
Aiken New Tech High School uses every available spot in the building for learning, including the media center.
“We are getting about two to three new kids in every single week.” Assistant Principal Mike Workman said.
Just this school year, Aiken has welcomed 235 new students.
“We have some areas where we have to get creative and make it work because we want the students to be here at Aiken High School,” Workman said.
Aiken tops the list of schools that have seen the biggest enrollment increase. That’s where eighth grader Paris is now going. Her mother, Angelika Faulkner, says she pulled her out of a charter school last week.
“For the most part, the teachers were nice, but nice isn’t going to give my daughter the education she needs to excel in ninth grade and through her high school years, period,” Faulkner said
Children transferring from charter schools is the biggest reason why CPS is getting an influx of new students.
Enrollment is growing the most in grades 7 through 12. The west side is the area that’s seeing the highest increase, especially in the Price Hill, Cheviot and Westwood neighborhoods.
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, Chief Information Officer Sarah Trimble-Oliver said they are planning on opening two new schools in 2019: The former Mercy High School and the Clifton Area Neighborhood School.
This is the eighth year in a row that CPS has seen an enrollment increase. It’s far outpacing other Ohio urban school districts. In the past four years Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown gained 682 students combined. Cincinnati alone increased by 4,400.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT #iBELIEVE
Standing Strong for Public Education! 