A series of questions showed that the Bowling Green community is far from a consensus on what to do with
its school facilities.
Representatives from Fanning Howey Associates led Wednesday’s facilities task force meeting, held at Crim
Elementary, and asked the estimated 55 people in attendance a series of questions, from how many
elementary buildings they would support to grade configurations in the buildings.
The answers showed a preference for one PK-5 building and use of a bond issue to pay for construction.

That answer is in direct contrast to the bond levy for one consolidated elementary that has failed twice.

Tim Hamilton, a former school superintendent with Fanning Howey, led the surveys, asking that those in
attendance keep in mind the educational vision when answering questions.
Questions included:
• Support for a bond issue to pay for elementary schools: 68 percent strongly agree, 4 percent strongly
disagree.
Answer options included strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. Only strongly
agree and strongly disagree are mentioned to show the dividedness of the room.
• Preferred size for an elementary:
1 building with 1,350 students: 41 percent
2 buildings with 675 students each: 29 percent
3 buildings with 450 students each: 29 percent
Resident Frances Brent said that one building could be divided into separate grade wings.
Another resident said if the district stopped allowing inter-district enrollment, the elementaries would
be true community schools.
• Preferred grade configurations:
Pre-kindergarten-5: 70 percent
Pre-kindergarten-2 and 3-5: 6 percent
Pre-kindergarten-2 and 2-3 and 4-5: 16 percent
• Which of the following options could you support, and more than one answer was allowed:
One consolidated elementary: 35 percent
Renovate all elementary buildings: 17 percent
New Conneaut and new Kenwood on current sites and renovate Crim: 29 percent
Two buildings, with one on the high school campus and one on the Conneaut site: 12 percent
Two buildings, with one on the high school campus and one on the Kenwood site: 13 percent
Two buildings, with one on Crim and one on either the Kenwood or Conneaut site: 21 percent
• Which of the options would you prefer, and only one answer was allowed:
One consolidated elementary: 25 percent
Renovate all elementary buildings: 7 percent
New Conneaut and new Kenwood on current sites and renovate Crim: 13 percent
Two buildings, with one on the high school campus and one on the Conneaut site: 2 percent
Two buildings, with one on the high school campus and one on the Kenwood site: 1 percent
Two buildings, with one on Crim and one on either the Kenwood or Conneaut site: 3 percent
“You’re not clearly heading one way or the other,” Hamilton said, warning against coming to conclusions.

District resident Grant Chamberlain said that the list is not complete in that it does not include “do
nothing” as an option.
Other members of the audience asked if the numbers were skewed by the teachers in the room.
“You are all aware this district has never passed a bond issue over $29 million,” said former school
board member Ellen Scholl. “The idea that you are going to build … in one fell swoop is probably not
going to fly with the community.
“Your thought process should be you should probably go with one, whichever you choose to do first, then
five years later do the other one,” Scholl said about the plans to renovate the high school and address
elementaries. “Because it’s not going to pass.”
Dan Obrynba, project executive with Fanning Howey, said he reviewed the education vision developed
through meetings with Superintendent Francis Scruci, Executive Director of Teaching & Learning
Ann McCarty and teachers.
That vision included teacher collaboration areas, and moving walls to allow team teaching, space for
tutoring and small group work, comfortable and moveable furniture, common space big enough for the
entire school to meet in, sensory rooms, adequate space for storage, among others.
He had a diagram of an open floor plan with four classrooms “to help illustrate the big picture.”
Those in attendance were asked whether they supported the bullet points of the educational vision.
Fifty-three percent strongly agreed, and 8 percent strongly disagreed.
“Some people are very firm with traditional education,” Hamilton said.
Project cost estimates should be available at the next meeting, set for Feb. 6. The time and location
will be set later.
Obrynba said it will take at least two or three more meetings before a consensus can be reached and
shared with the financial task force.
Task force members will tour the new Northwood K-12 building on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
After the meeting Gale Swanka said she was surprised at the amount of disagreement in the configuration
of two elementary schools.
She prefers the consolidation option because it allows the most manageable solution for the district to
better handle changes in grade-level enrollment, and has a lower construction cost.
“We’re exploring good information,” Swanka said about the meeting. “It’s good to see this many people
come out. It’s important that the information get shared.”
She is interested in seeing different learning environments and plans to attend the Northwood tour.
Daniel Wilson said the survey results were inconclusive and wondered if they are the results of the
community or the room.
“Compared to the voting public, those results were more reflective of the room we were in,” he said,
adding that he was in favor of maintaining facilities until the district’s bills are paid.
Prior to the meeting, the group toured Crim, which has 486 students. The tour included its 2012 addition
which doubled the size of the school by adding classrooms, a new cafeteria and offices; and the 1963
addition which added a classroom wing.
The 2013 addition was supposed to house preschool, kindergarten classrooms and two learning centers, but
because of demand, it now houses kindergarten, first-fifth grades and one learning center. Preschool has
been moved to Conneaut Elementary.
Classrooms get shuffled as class sizes change: this year most grades have three classes but next year
some will have four, said Crim Principal Alyssa Karaffa.
According to Karaffa, shortcomings in the school include:
• Rooms have dehumidifiers to combat the moisture and two in the 1963 have water seeping in.
• The carpet is cleaned yearly but duct tape is use in several classrooms to hold it together.
• When work is done on the heating system in the roof, debris drops from the classroom ceilings.
• An intervention room is only accessible through the teacher’s lounge or another room.
• The gym is only big enough to hold two grade levels and parents at a time, requiring repeated
performances for events.
• The library has been moved three times and is now only a fraction of its original size as it has been
divided to add two classrooms. There is no space for tables or computers. One of those new rooms is for
a sensory class that previously was held on the gym stage.