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Town Hall
TOWNHALL
This is where Ago and Ame actually happen. Five Town Halls, January through May 2027, open to every Cleveland parent and caregiver, built around clear, unbiased, nonpartisan information and space to ask questions, share experiences, and build relationships across neighborhoods.
January Town Hall
Who Actually Runs the School? Every decision about your child's education, from calendars and curriculum to who gets hired, lands on somebody's desk. We'll map who actually holds that power across Cleveland's district, charter, private, parochial, and homeschools, so you know exactly where to take your questions.
February Town Hall
Follow the Money: Every school runs on a budget most parents never get to see in plain language. We'll walk through where the money comes from, where it goes, and how to read a school or district budget, the same unbiased, nonpartisan information for every family in the room.
March Town Hall
What Makes a Good School? A letter grade doesn't tell you whether a school is right for your child. We'll dig into the factors that actually matter, school climate, teaching quality, safety, student support, family engagement, and enrichment, so you can look past reputation and word of mouth and judge for yourself.
April Town Hall
Talking With Your Child's Teachers: Raising a concern with an educator shouldn't feel like a test you can fail. We'll role-play real scenarios, raising a concern, asking effective questions, building a two-way relationship, and practice the conversations that help students succeed.
May Town Hall
From Information to Power: Five Town Halls in, you'll have the information, this session is about what you do with it. We'll gather the concerns Cleveland parents raised all spring and start shaping them into CPC's first Parent Policy Agenda, the decision-making table where parents hold a real seat.
01 ━━ WHAT YOU’LL WALK AWAY WITH
Information that exists to be used, not just understood.
Unbiased, nonpartisan information about how Cleveland's schools are actually governed, funded, and rated, so you can hold those systems accountable, not simply learn to live inside them.
1
Real, usable lessons for supporting your child's development, and for building a respectful, two-way relationship with the educators in their life.
2
Space to ask questions, share experiences, and name the concerns you have in common with parents from other neighborhoods, a room full of Cleveland parents, from every kind of school this city has, who are done navigating this alone.
3
Every session is built so you leave with at least one useful new concept, and the feeling of being connected to a meaningful collective effort.
This is a pilot.
We're trying this, not promising outcomes we can't yet prove. But we are done accepting that staying on the sidelines is the safer choice. Five Town Halls is where we start, and what we learn from them shapes what comes next.
05 ━━ HONEST
The meetings don't stop at five.
After the pilots, we keep going, monthly community meetings built to give parents the tools and information to navigate the K-12 journey with their child, in a room that's culturally ours and worth coming back to.
06 ━━ THE RHYTHM
Every parent is welcomed.
Every parent or caregiver of a school-age child living in the City of Cleveland is welcome, regardless of where that child attends school: district, charter, private, parochial, or homeschool. Our children are not sorted neatly into one system, and this table isn't either.
07 ━━ OPEN TO ALL
A Parent Leadership Action Academy.
For parents who want to go deeper: an eight-week leadership program for a cohort of 10 Cleveland parents and caregivers. Across four sessions and one-on-one coaching, participants learn how Cleveland's schools are governed and funded, build confidence as advocates, and leave with a project connected to CPC's policy goals, and with a stipend for their time.
08 ━━ THE ACADEMY
02 ━━ WHAT WE’LL EXPLORE
STRAIGHT ANSWERS, TOPIC bY TOPIC
01
Who Actually Runs the School?
Understanding school governance and identifying who has authority over different decisions.
02
What Makes a Good School?
How to evaluate school quality and weigh the factors that matter: reputation, test scores, word of mouth, school climate, student support, teaching quality, family engagement, safety, enrichment opportunities, and student outcomes.
03
Parent–Teacher Communication Simulation
Role-playing common parent–educator scenarios, practicing ways to communicate, raise concerns, ask effective questions, and build relationships that support student success.
These are the possible topics for the pilot. The series will stay responsive to what parents say they need.
04 ━━ YOUR FIRST TOWN HALL
Come as you are.
The Cleveland Parent Congress Town Halls are open to parents and caregivers of children in preschool through 12th grade who live in the City of Cleveland. We welcome families from every neighborhood and every school setting, including district, charter, private, parochial, alternative, and home education. Every town hall offers clear, unbiased, nonpartisan information and time to ask questions, share experiences, and connect with parents from across the city. Dinner, childcare, and transportation support are provided. You'll leave having learned at least one new thing, and knowing you're part of something bigger.
09 ━━ VOICES FROM THE ROOM
After each Town Hall, this is where the story builds.
A short recap, a photo, and a real parent quote will live here after every Town Hall, the same content that feeds our history over time. This is what builds the case for Town Hall 2 through 5.
Check back after the first one.