I just called the Cleveland Municipal School District to request some pretty general data about the district; specifically, the number of schools in the district and how they breakdown between elementary, K‑8 and high schools. I need this data for some of the preparatory work for the 2007 Cleveland Leadership Summit. The receptionist who answered the phone and the PR person I was ultimately directed to were perhaps the rudest people I’ve ever spoken with on the telephone. Great public face, CMSD.
So I talked to some community development old-hatters about the CMSD and they all chuckled at me in my naïvete, since they’ve had first-hand experience for ages at just how rude the CMSD can be.