Retiring School Social Worker Paved Way for Peers
June 18, 2018 -- People have a lot of good things to say about Oxford social worker Cindy Schmidt, who is retiring after 20 years in the district.
"One of our best!" said Boulevard teacher Sherri Bellini. "A true professional in every way," said retired Rox El teacher and Oxford community member Lynne Maragliano. "She is truly a gift who will be missed," said Boulevard counselor Betsy Race. "Her kind, wise, and practical approach was always dead on," said Canterbury’s Cynthia Oviatt.
"Without a doubt, Cindy is the heartbeat of Oxford," said the school's former Title I specialist and current Noble principal, Patrick Carpenter.
But the single most significant statement is one that requires some back story: "None of us would be here if it weren't for Cindy," said Heights High social worker Caryl Yoo.
Ms. Schmidt, who was raised in eastern Kentucky, has social work in her blood. She jokes that her father, who served as social worker his entire career, brainwashed her to follow in his footsteps. When she was a girl of 8 or 9, he would come into the room she shared with her sister and sit between their beds to tell them a bedtime story. It was often some variation of a sad tale about a little orphan girl who needed to be adopted.
"You would think this would be a depressing story to tell little kids," said Schmidt. "But it wasn't! My sister and I were fully convinced that we would find this little girl a home."
That sense of hope and the belief that she could actually do something to improve the plight of others has driven Schmidt for her entire 45-year career. She knew early on that she wanted to work with children and families and, after moving to Cleveland, she earned her Masters of Social Work with a school certification at Case Western Reserve University.
But no schools were hiring social workers in the 1970s, so Schmidt did part-time outpatient mental health in Lake County for 20 years while living in Cleveland Heights and raising her three children here.
Her involvement in the CH-UH School District as a parent and her profound certainty that school social work was necessary for overall success, led Schmidt to simply forge her own path. "If they won’t let me in through the front door," she said of the district who had no funds to hire social workers, "I'll go in through the back."
She worked with Case's off-site field instructor program to place social work graduate students in Heights schools as interns, figuring that once district leaders saw how valuable they were, they'd find a way to pay for them. But the budget never allowed for it despite the good work being done, and after four years, Schmidt was getting discouraged. And then, in 1998, the CH-UH district was officially designated an urban school district, which opened up access to new funding streams.
Schmidt had clearly proven the value of mental health professionals in the school setting because the district took that new opportunity to hire five full-time social workers and five psychologists.
"Cindy has been a champion of school social work for her entire career," said colleague Karen Allen, the social worker at Boulevard. "She is a model for everyone this district has hired of what a good school social worker looks like. She does whatever is needed and is passionate about helping children and families."
Ms. Allen recounted stories of Schmidt sitting in the emergency room with families while students had psychiatric evaluations, making 15 phone calls to ensure that a homeless family had a place to stay, finding ways to get her hands on anything a child needed to succeed, from glasses to shoes to ongoing medical care. "Cindy never loses sight of the goal, which is to make sure that children have everything they need to achieve academically," said Allen.
That perseverance is admired by all the teachers she's worked with over the years. And there are many, as she's been employed at Canterbury, Coventry, Fairfax, Gearity, Roxboro Elementary and Middle, and fulltime at Oxford for the past three years.
"We were thrilled when we heard we were getting a full-time social worker," said former Oxford teacher Marisa Pollutro, who now teaches at Fairfax. "But Cindy exceeded all our expectations. She is compassionate, hard-working, and honest. She hustled down those halls every day.”
Schmidt’s deep commitment to the wellbeing of students and their families is reflected in her tireless work on their behalf. “You would never guess she’s retiring,” said Carpenter. “She just keeps going full steam ahead.”
Oxford intervention specialist Katie Spilker spoke of one student with severe mental health issues who Schmidt has been working with all year. “This student will have lifelong challenges ahead of him, but he and his family are in a better place and receiving many services and supports because of Cindy Schmidt. I am overwhelmed by her selflessness. When I’ve become discouraged or hit a roadblock in helping this child, Cindy simply finds a different approach.”
Schmidt’s unwillingness to quit will be apparent even in her retirement. While she knows this is “the right time” and is eager for the flexibility to travel to her children who are spread from Oregon to Australia, Schmidt still hopes to be engaged in the district. “I’d love to do part-time project-based work getting specific programs up and running,” she said, similar to the community partnerships she has established at Oxford over the past three years. She was instrumental in bringing both the Cleveland Clinic Mobile Health vans and the Cleveland Food Bank’s School Market programs into our district.
Regardless of what Cindy Schmidt does from here on out, her legacy is strong. “None of us would be here if it weren’t for Cindy,” said Caryl Yoo. It’s worth repeating because everyone knows it’s true.
“Cindy showed the district how much good a social worker can do,” said Karen Allen. “Her impact is so big.”