Cleveland students walked, ran and hugged their way into the new school year. 

Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Warren Morgan greeted the new year with the same enthusiasm, shaking hands with teachers and cheering on students as they headed to class. 

“I’ve been saying this is like sophomore year,” Morgan said, referring to his second year leading the district. “You learn so much in that first year, and you’re ready to just implement so many things from the lessons learned.”

The new school year comes with some changes. Every school in the district is collecting students’ cell phones when they arrive to limit phone use during the school day. The district is also launching an online grade book so parents can keep an eye on students’ grades and schedules. Morgan said the grade book will be available to parents next month.

The district itself is facing some big challenges this school year, including winning voters’ support for a November tax increase to help fill a projected budget shortfall in 2027. The district also hopes to build on the 3% improvement its students achieved on Ohio state test scores compared to the previous year. Morgan said he hopes to keep up the improvements with a consistent English Language Arts curriculum in all the district’s schools. 

“This is our first year implementing our district-wide ELA curriculum,” Morgan said. “We’ve had some academic progress last year over the year before. We want to continue to double down on that, and that brings its own challenges.”

Morgan’s first year as CEO taught him the importance of constantly listening to the needs of students and teachers, he said. 

“You can work so hard obsessing about the problems in schools and thinking about policies to put in place to make it better,” he said. “But if you don’t actually go to see what’s happening, you’re gonna be lost.”