Melanie Bates isn't backing off her crusade to try to get Cincinnati Public Schools fully reopened this spring, despite criticism from the teachers' union and some parents. 

In fact, the veteran school member is speaking out even more about the need for students to return to the classroom five days a week after the district recently received proficiency test results. 

In an interview with The Enquirer's That's So Cincinnati podcast, Bates said students' proficiency results dropped 17% year over year. In fall 2019, 38% of students were at or above state proficiency, Bates said. But last fall those results dropped to 21%, and Bates attributes the drop off to schools being closed or mostly closed since the outset of the pandemic in March 2020.

"I have two grandchildren in Cincinnati Public Schools," said Bates, the longest-tenured member on the board. "I have a daughter who's a first-grade teacher in another public school district. In conversations, the difference between what that district is providing five days a week to their students and what we are, is just devastating."

"Our children, in many, many cases, are a year behind," Bates added.