Trump to visit Cleveland charter school Thursday

Site not far from where Clinton rallied with supporters on Labor Day

9/7/2016
BY TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
  • Campaign-2016-Trumps-9-7

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks about national security Wednesday at the Union League in Philadelphia.

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • CLEVELAND — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump returns to Ohio on Thursday with a planned speech at a Cleveland charter school.

    The 2 p.m. address at the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy is in a predominantly African-American neighborhood not far from where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton rallied with supporters on Labor Day. The event is not open to the public.

    Mr. Trump has been an advocate of charter schools, which have been championed in Ohio by Republican political leaders, while Mrs. Clinton has been an advocate for traditional public education and is backed by public school teacher unions. One of the speakers who introduced her on Labor Day in Cleveland was Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

    At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Mr. Trump said, “We will rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice.”

    The Ohio Department of Education report card for 2014-15 gave the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy a D for ”performance index” and an F for ”indicators met.”

    Mr. Trump was also in Cleveland on Labor Day. Mr. Trump and running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence held a roundtable with a dozen local labor leaders at American Legion post 610 hall in Brook Park near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

    The news site cleveland.com reported that Mr. Trump is expected to appear at a private fund-raiser later Thursday afternoon at the TownHall restaurant on West 25th Street. Later in the evening, he is expected to appear for a second private fund-raiser at the home of Ed Crawford, a local industrialist and major GOP donor who is the Trump campaign's state finance chair.

    Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.