We know what the calendar says, but we are taking a summer break in our innovative Cleveland’s Promise story that you’ve been reading in serialized form since September.
Pausing at this point in the storytelling makes sense because the children have just completed fourth grade. In February, we’ll take you back to school, picking up the story as the students begin fifth grade.
This series has been a wonder. We set out more than a year ago to illustrate the challenges of educating children in a city beset by poverty and how the Cleveland Public Schools tackle those challenges.
Reporters Hannah Drown and Cameron Fields have been embedded in Almira Elementary school since the fall of 2021, immersed daily in the lives of the students, teachers, counselors, parents and others. They’ve told stories of crushing situations these students faced, including the arrests of parents and housing crises. They’ve also shared stories of joy and wonder.
I’m not aware of anyone trying to tell the story of education this way, and we’ve appreciated the great many kind comments we’ve received about it from readers. Dedicating two reporters full-time for two school years is a sacrifice for us, but this is the kind of story for which we gladly make sacrifices.
We’ve published dozens of chapters since September, but we’ve always seen this as a single story with multiple plotlines and characters. We serialized it to make it digestible. From the start we planned to assemble the chapters into the single story it is, for those who might wish to read it that way or catch up on any chapters they missed.
The fourth-grade story is now available. You can read or download it several ways. Subscribers to The Plain Dealer should be able to find it as a supplement in the digital edition of the newspaper, if all went as planned. You can read it in the e-edition or download it to your device. You can also read and download it at this link. And for visitors to cleveland.com, you can download it from the online version of this column, which you can find at https://tinyurl.com/quinncolumns
With everything assembled in one place, we think you’ll be struck by the depth of the work, which has been beautifully illustrated by artist Andrea Levy.
Then, in February, come back to Almira with us as the fifth-grade story begins. We will follow some of the students you’ve gotten to know and we’ll introduce new children to you. Hannah and Cameron are in two classrooms this year, working with two teachers. We’ll serialize fifth grade like we did fourth grade, and we’ll aim to put the entire fifth-grade story into a supplement as summer approaches.
Since the inception of this project, we intended to last at least two years. We thought at the inception it might go three, but that is iffy. Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon has been a chief facilitator of this work, and he is leaving the district next summer. The possibility exists that his successor would support this work, but most leaders I’ve dealt with over the years have big egos. They want attention paid to their deeds and accomplishments, not the work of a predecessor. Eric is that rare leader who does not have such an ego. Despite all of his successes in Cleveland, he remains a humble educator. And Northeast Ohio owes him thanks for providing the access we needed to tell this story.
And I thank Hannah, Cameron, Andrea and project editor Leila Atassi for giving this project their all. I also thank Jeff Glick, Skip Hall and the others who design our newspaper pages for taking time during a busy holiday season to put together this section. It’s special.
Thanks for reading.
