TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The historic Libbey High School in South Toledo is in its final days. In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, the TPS board voted to close the aging school.
Board member Brenda Hill was one of three board members who voted on April 1 to keep Libbey open, but she failed to say at the time that her vote depended on the income tax levy passing earlier this month. It was overwhelmingly rejected by voters.
Hill told board members and the public at the board's meeting: "It's my fault that I thought I voted that way and I did."
During Tuesday's re-vote, Hill voted "yes," along with Bob Vasquez and Lisa Sobecki, to close Libbey. Vasquez and Sobecki were the only board members who voted in April to close it.
Just before Tuesday's vote, Jack Ford said the closing was based on race.
Ford said: "There has not been any real sacrifice to balance the budget, that's the honest assessment that we have made around this panel. And so we are doing what we normally do, doing it on the black community."
Hill countered, saying her re-vote had nothing to do with race.
"And when we had money, we kept it open. But now I feel there is no money." Hill added, "It is not a matter of race. It's just a neighborhood where there aren't that many people there."
Ford refused to talk to us about his statements and his "no" vote.
But Lisa Sobecki said, "I do not make my decisions based on race. I see that we have all different kinds of races in our TPS family."
The board also voted to empty its rainy day fund to add $3.7 million to the general fund, to help offset part of the $39 million deficit.
And board members voted to send kids from the Lincoln Academy for Boys to Martin Luther King elementary.
And girls from MLK will be sent to the Stewart Academy for Girls this fall.
These decisions came after a large rally Tuesday afternoon by the Toledo Federation of Teachers, who were protesting teacher cuts they feel could reach as high as 250.
