Embattled Columbus City Schools board member Brandon Simmons is alleging the district's plan to close several school buildings will not move forward.
Simmons, 22, held a meandering press conference Monday outside of Columbus Alternative High School, where he refused to take questions from reporters who were present. The district's spokespeople and security officers were also there, and would not offer comment beyond saying that Simmons' presser was not authorized by the board.
Simmons said he thinks the district will no longer move forward with a plan to close and consolidate less than a dozen district buildings. The district had spent the better part of this year soliciting input from the community and having a taskforce recommend which schools should close.
"The work of the task force is dead. They just won't admit it. It died in May. It did. The work is not continuing. There will be no vote," Simmons said.
Simmons also insulted his colleagues, calling them "feckless" and alleging they "lack the political will" to take action.
No final vote has been held yet on closing buildings and the board's meeting on Tuesday does not include the closure plan on the agenda.
Simmons ended the press conference by turning and walking towards CAHS's front door. Reporters had to shout at him to come back, because he left with microphones owned by the TV stations still attached to his person.
When he came back to return the microphones, Simmons answered few questions about what he had just stated.
This wasn't the first-term board member's only miscue. Simmons also spelled his own name wrong in an email advisory that was sent out early Sunday morning.
The plan to close school buildings had already been getting opposition from some community members.
Then a divisive strategy document titled “Taking Control of the Task Force Narrative," that Simmons admitted he wrote, was leaked to the public. The document suggested ways to weaken the Columbus Education Association after the group reacted negatively to a district plan to close some school buildings.
That document only added fuel to the fire for those opposing the district's plan. The school board disavowed the document and censured Simmons in an unanimous vote that included Simmons himself voting "yes."
Simmons again apologized for writing the document Monday, which he has done so repeatedly since it leaked. He also seemed to switch his opinion from the sentiments he expressed in that document.
Simmons said he now wants to include union members in the ideas he was proposing.
Simmons called for funds from a recently passed school levy to be redirected and spent on building new school buildings, instead of spending the money doing maintenance on old ones. The district campaigned on the general improvement levy being used to help the district keep up with needed building and equipment repairs.
"The Board of Education has options that our leadership refuses to exercise. Our students don't have to sit in these old school buildings. My colleagues want a minute, but Columbus City Schools has the finances right now," Simmons said.
Simmons claimed his colleagues don't want to upset people by redirecting the money. He claimed one new school building would be enough to replace what three older buildings in the district currently do.
WOSU reached out to Columbus City Schools' Board President Christina Vera, but had not heard back before this story was published.
