Cleveland district plans to merge 2 elementary schools

The Cleveland (Ohio) district is planning to close Walton School and merge it with Clark Elementary School in a building set to open later this year.

Signal Cleveland reports that the Cleveland school board is expected to formally approve the long-planned merger later this month. 

The new Clark building is about one mile away from the Walton campus. Design and construction for the new building began in 2022.

The new Clark school is projected to be ready by Aug. 12, just under a week before the first day of school. If the building isn’t done on time, the district plans to temporarily place Walton’s students and staff at the the old Garrett Morgan school. Clark’s students have been at H. Barbara Booker School during construction of the new campus; they also would be housed at Garrett Morgan if the new building is not ready.

Walton, which has been open for more than 50 years, had about 250 students in 2024-25, and Clark had nearly 650.