This school saved my adolescence. I never thought I'd be excited to go to school in the morning!…read moreThank you PCCS!

Yeah, as Michael said, be sure to check out the shirts that they sell now; they're awesome!read more

Five years later, my daughter is still being harassed--and I've learned that simply calling someone…read more'racist' doesn't repair the damage or foster real understanding. I fully support Cleveland High's commitment to equity, but I believe our community deserves genuine learning, not symbolic gestures. What happened: The culinary teacher asked a volunteer to "give Alfonso a face," handing a white student a mold created during a prior unit on ethnic heritage. That student piped on icing, then classmates--including my daughter--posed for a photo with the finished cake, unaware it evoked blackface. Meanwhile, Black students and their families saw a painful reminder of a history of dehumanization. How it blew up: The teacher encouraged everyone to post their work online, and the image--three white students holding a blackface cake--sparked immediate outrage. Administrators lumped it in with noose and swastika graffiti, never noting it was a classroom assignment. Local and national media quickly labeled three "racist white girls" trying to sell their creation. The principal held a rally condemning hate, but when students asked why there had been no suspensions or other consequences for the girls, she replied the incident was still "under investigation"--the results were never made public. The restorative circle: Five days after the incident, the principal finally convened a circle with the Black Student Union--without the culinary teacher present or any disclosure that the blackface cake had been a classroom assignment. Rather than using that space to examine how the curriculum, the teacher's directives, and the school's broader white-supremacist culture enabled this harm, administrators chose the easiest narrative: framing it solely as an intentional hate act. By lumping it in with noose and swastika graffiti and placing full blame on three students, they sidestepped any meaningful discussion of systemic failings and missed the chance to acknowledge their own institutional responsibility to families of color. That circle proved the most instructive experience of my daughter's two years at Cleveland--she emerged with profound new insights--but it also violated restorative justice's fundamental principle that all parties share their stories. What followed: Despite appealing to the PPS school board for answers, they declined to comment, citing teacher protections and "student privacy." At the same time, our daughter was already receiving death threats--and under the "impact matters, not intent" framework, any public explanation risked making things worse for her. Fearing for her safety, we chose not to speak to the media. My daughter left the PPS system after 10th grade. The incident profoundly changed her perspective on institutional racism--but most of her classmates never gained that insight What this says about Cleveland High: This episode could have been a teachable moment for all students about how white supremacy continues to shape school culture--from blackface molds to one‐off "culture fairs" unmoored from curriculum. Instead, students were shamed without real instruction. Bottom line: Cleveland High's response was incomplete. I share this so that, if another school faces something similar, it chooses education and transparency over mere symbolism. Honest conversations are the only way forward.

this school is pissing me off this school cant make rules im gonna switch my kids outta of this…read moreschool i told my friends to switch theres kids beacuse this school is horrible the new rule of being late to class IS BAD IDEA and slow my daughter was like 1 mins late to class and they shut there door right at her face and made her go back to the office to get a yellow pass for her to enter the class the made her 10 times more late this school