Civil and Municipal Education February 2024 Public Sector

Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District – Brecksville, Ohio

March 4, 2024

Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District

Continuing to Reach Educational Heights

A School District with a Longstanding Reputation for Excellence

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District located just a few miles south of Cleveland, Ohio, emerged as a consolidated district in the 1950s, bringing together two sister communities to create a unified educational environment. Today, the award-winning learning community serves approximately 3,706 students from pre-K to 12th grade.

Superintendent Jeff Harrison emphasizes the district’s commitment to student achievement, both in academic and extracurricular pursuits, noting, “We are in a suburban district that enjoys quite a bit of success both in and out of the classroom. We have exceeded expectations year after year. We have been ranked as high as seventh in the state. This year, we were ranked sixteenth, but when you look at school districts that have 2000 or more students, we are number three in the state.”

An Ideal Education Experience in a Vibrant Community

Brecksville-Broadview Heights’ student body reflects a strong and growing community, as Harrison notes, “We’re an established community. We don’t have a lot of brand new development, but it is a desirable district to move to because of the proximity to downtown Cleveland, and also because of the rich history of education in our district.

With 400 employees, including 275 teachers, the district takes pride in the experience of its staff, and the fact that many consider Brecksville-Broadview Heights a district of choice.

“Typically, when teachers join us, they retire from here, which provides us with a lot of stability, as well as provides us with a lot of expertise in our classroom that our students have the great benefit of,” he boasts. Looking ahead, Harrison hopes to build on this reputation, in his words, “making this a destination district where people want to work, learn and enjoy. If we can accomplish that with students, staff, and community, we are going to be successful. No matter how we go about our business. No matter what theories we use, no matter what styles of education we use.”

In describing the qualities of an ideal educator for the district, Harrison states, “Being the content expert or curriculum expert is important but is not the most important part of being a high-quality educator that we look for here in Brecksville-Broadview Heights. We want an educator who’s going to build genuine, authentic relationships with our students and colleagues, who are student-centered, and is willing to do whatever it takes to have our students be successful.”

As for what sets Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District apart, Harrison recounts, “The experiences that are available to our students are second to none. We have opportunities across the board for students to engage in our academic content, which involves more than just sitting in a classroom. We offer real-world experiences. We offer organizations, clubs, and athletic teams that our students are interested in. They can take the skills that they learn in the classroom and apply them to everyday life.”

Facilities and Infrastructure

In 2022 Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District celebrated the opening of a brand new 280,000 square foot Pre K to 5 elementary school. “This building replaced three previous elementary buildings, as well as a separate preschool and a separate intermediate school which was grades four and five,” relays Harrison.

“We have a beautiful facility that is state of the art. It has amenities all over the place, and it’s the perfect learning environment for our children and our staff. We are very fortunate that our community was willing to support us in that endeavor.”

The city of Brecksville was also a valuable partner in the project, participating in a land swap that gave them an old elementary school building, in exchange for land for the new school to be built. “In addition to that elementary building, we have a Fieldhouse, that has a track and four basketball courts in it, that we use during the day for physical education and different school activities. At 4:30 every day, we turn it over to the city. It’s a shared usage agreement, and it’s a great relationship,” he says.

This joint venture exemplifies the harmonious partnership between the school district and the city, a relationship that is beneficial to all.

In terms of other infrastructure investment, Harrison says the focus moving forward will be on enhancing existing facilities, which include a high school and a middle school. “We’re also taking a hard look at different sustainability initiatives that we can take part in, that we can educate our children on, but also pay back in a good way to our environment,” he says.

Community Engagement and Partnerships

Collaborations with the cities of Brecksville and Broadview Heights are extremely important to the success of the district. Harrison conveys, “These relationships and things that we have done together have only enhanced our school district.” From the land swap that facilitated the building of the new intermediate school to the support from the city council in each community, he underscores the positive impact assistance from these entities has had for Brecksville-Broadview Heights.

In addition, Harrison points to partnerships with local vendors, who are pivotal in providing goods and services for an efficient school system. Relationships with the local business community are also crucial, not only in terms of supply chain but also in providing essential opportunities for students.

“Our business community within Brecksville- Broadview Heights, and the opportunities that they make available to our students to experience real-world learning, goes beyond just the exchange of money and goods that a school district would have to a vendor. It is a lot of transfer of knowledge as well. When they open up their doors to our students to be able to experience those real-world learning opportunities, it’s an awesome, awesome opportunity. That’s why we’d like to work with our local business community because they can give back in many different ways.”

Superintendent Harrison’s Personal Philosophy

Harrison’s educational philosophy centers around finding efficiencies that keep the attention on a student-centered experience. “We need to be solely focused on meeting every single student where they’re at and helping move them forward and preparing them for whatever career that they choose,” he explains.

“When you’re walking into a classroom, the students should be doing the majority of talking and work. And the teacher is a facilitator of knowledge, rather than a giver of knowledge. They need to facilitate the process and teach our students how to persevere, how to overcome and continually be critical thinkers. It’s our job to teach them how to think, not what to think. And that’s an important piece to today’s day-to-day life.”

Looking to the Future

As Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District moves into a new year, they are embarking on a robust strategic planning process. “That is going to guide us, not necessarily for the next ten years, but a shorter time frame of three years. So, we can be very intentional with what we do,” asserts Harrison.

“When we talk about strategic planning and looking into the future, we can’t afford to look too far out and miss the opportunities of today. In Brecksville-Broadview Heights, we’re going to be very intentional with what we will need to accomplish and why we need to accomplish it, and we need to continue to leverage the resources we have, to make for the very best experience for our students and our staff.”

Embracing change and maintaining a growth mindset are also guiding the district’s vision as it looks to the future.

“At the pace that things move today, with the use of technology and the new technologies that are coming, we have to be extremely nimble, and we need to be responsive as a school district. We cannot continue to do things the way that we’ve always done them,” Harrison remarks, “We need to look at opportunities that are out there, and not fear change.”