Cleveland schools leaders are taking a final step toward closing Walton School and merging it with Clark Elementary School in a new building next school year.
This merger has been planned since 2019, but the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) board is poised to make it official with a vote later this month.
The new Clark building is about one mile away from Walton, which is near the intersection of Clark Avenue and Fulton Road. Design and construction for the new building, facing Clark Avenue, began in 2022.
The most recent construction report says the new Clark school will be ready by August 12, just under a week before the first day of school, but that date has shifted multiple times over the last six months.
“There is a little bit of concern that the building may not be ready before school starts,” said Cleveland Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski.
If the building isn’t done by the beginning of the next school year, the district plans to temporarily place Walton’s students and staff at the the old Garrett Morgan school in Ohio City, Obrenski said. Clark’s students have been at H. Barbara Booker during the new school’s construction — they would also have to go the old Garrett Morgan school if the building opening is delayed.
Walton, which has been open for more than 50 years, had about 250 students this past school year, and Clark had nearly 650.
Most staff and students will transfer to the new Clark school
Last December, CMSD sent out a letter to parents announcing Walton’s closure. At the time, the closure came as a surprise to Cleveland Teachers Union officials, who said they weren’t clear on the timeline before the letter was sent out. The consolidation of Clark and Walton was originally set for the 2026-2027 school year, Obrenski said.
“We were kind of taken aback because we were not anticipating things to move that quickly,” Obrenski told Signal Cleveland. “Historically, the district would communicate with us so that both district and union leadership would then communicate with the faculty.”
Most of the staff from Walton will be moved to the new Clark school, but a few teachers and aides will be transferred to other schools, she said.
Students from Walton will be automatically transferred to the new Clark school, but they can choose other schools through CMSD’s school choice portal. The district has open enrollment, so for the most part, students can choose any school in the district that has open seats. The school choice portal only opens for a couple months each year, and it is already closed for the 2025-2026 school year.
CMSD also recently finished renovating Joseph M. Gallagher PreK-8 School located about a mile-and-a-half away from Clark.
CMSD has more school consolidations and closures on the horizon. District officials say they need to close buildings to cut costs and whittle down a looming budget deficit. For now, it’s unclear how many or which schools could be on the chopping block.
Officials will present recommendations for closures and consolidations in the fall. They would take effect at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.
This was story was updated to correct the school Clark students would attend if the opening of the new Clark school building is delayed.
