About 30 Walnut Hills community members gathered Monday to oppose a potential merger of Frederick Douglass Elementary School with a nearby school in Evanston.
The merger is a possible solution to budget issues in the Cincinnati Public Schools district. The district’s board of education is expected to discuss the possibility at its Monday night business board meeting at 5:30 p.m. at 2651 Burnet Avenue.
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“It’s more than just a building, it’s the history of our community,” said Dr. Charles Dillard, an alumnus of earlier Frederick Douglass School who has practiced medicine in the neighborhood for 40 years.
There has been a school in Walnut Hills serving Black children since before the Civil War and Frederick Douglass Elementary is the historical successor to those earliest efforts of minorities seeking education.
“It’s easier to build strong children than repair broken men,” said Mona Jenkins, the Walnut Hills Council President, quoting Frederick Douglass.