A collaboration was born Tuesday between Cincinnati City Council and the city's board of education.

        Cincinnati Public Schools' board met with council Tuesday night in Corryville in their first joint meeting in recent memory. Both passed resolutions to continue to bring the two groups together.

        The collaboration is an effort to encourage partnership between city agencies and the school system as the district plans a $1 billion construction project to rebuild or renovate the city's aging public schools.

        The proposed decadelong project would be the biggest public-works project undertaken in Cincinnati and includes building 35 new schools and renovating 31 buildings.

        The groups say they want to work together to build schools that are centers of community, offering neighborhood services nights and weekends, such as recreational programs and on-site health and mental services.

        “This was not just p.r.,” council member David Crowley said after the meeting. “This is not going to end here. The two administrations have been directed to work together.”

        Indeed, the board and council committed to meet annually hereafter; members of the two administrations will meet at least three times a year; and a committee of the board will meet four times a year with a proposed subcommittee of council.

        Board member John Gilligan said the collaboration could make Cincinnati the best place in the nation to raise a family.

        “If we can coordinate these plans and expenditures, we can quite literally transform this city,” he said.

        Board member Harriet Russell said the board should create a community liaison to coordinate construction plans with the various city agencies.

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