PEMBEVILLE – Eastwood Local Schools is investigating options to replace its aging middle and high schools.
At a Facilities Task Force meeting held Feb. 6, Superintendent Brent Welker shared with the dozen people in attendance the steps needed in 2024 and 2025 before a possible bond issue for new facilities appears on the ballot.
“We’re still in a fact-finding stage. Are we even going to do something,” Welker said.
He reviewed how enrollment impacts the size of the new construction, showed photos taken at recent site visits to newly built schools, and discussed how a consultant will lead the district in its visioning process.
Earlier this year, the board voted to work with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to evaluate current facilities and to explore options for renovating or replacing the existing middle school and high school.
OFCC won’t pay for renovations of the two buildings based on its assessments. If the cost to renovate a building is greater than two-thirds of the cost to build the same size school, then the OFCC recommends new construction.
Welker explained at the meeting that once enrollment is known and square footage is set, the program of requirements — which will include classrooms, hallways, storage, art and music rooms, a library, offices and gym and cafeteria – will be put in place.
“Students equal square footage,” he said.
The program of requirements assigns square footage that will be co-funded by the state (36%) and the district (64%).
Additional projects outside of OFCC funding, known as a locally-funding initiatives, will be paid for entirely by the district. Such spaces may include larger gymnasiums, science labs, and additional classrooms for elective classes and for intervention specialists.
The program of requirements are the biggest step, right behind deciding how to pay for the project, Welker said.
“It tells you what you have and don’t have in terms of square footage and what you’re going to need extra,” he said.
The high school opened in 1960. An addition and remodeling project which included a third wing was completed in 2000. The middle school opened in 1970.
Welker said the only mistake in the elementary school, which opened in 2017, was the cafeteria, where the meeting was held.
“This room is just not big enough,” he said.
He warned parking on campus will be awful if a new grades 6-12 school is approved, as it likely will be constructed where the parking lot between the middle school and high school is located.
Based on enrollment projections in 2014, the plan at that time was for a building just under 122,000 square feet that would be co-funded with OFCC, Welker said.
Enrollment numbers will be updated, he said.
“I’ve got us needing about 130,000 square feet just to be able to do the things that we’re doing,” Welker said.
“There are a lot of things we’re doing today that we weren’t doing five, 10 years ago that requires a lot more square footage,” said former board member Roger Bostdorff. “My question is, is the state considering that in their formulas?”
No, responded Fanning Howey’s Executive Director Steve Wilczynski.
Welker estimated each additional square foot would cost $440-$450.
He said for a district the size of Eastwood, the state will co-pay for a high school gym that is 9,300 square feet. By comparison, Elmwood’s gym is about 11,000 square feet.
Eastwood’s high school gym opens to an auxiliary gym and Welker said he did not know its square footage.
The state will co-pay for a middle school gym of about 6,000 square feet. The current gym is about 8,000 square feet.
“These are just comparisons so you can get a feel for what would have to get done,” Welker said about the project.
The board of education has approved a contract with consultant Emmy Beeson to lead the staff and community through the visioning of the project.
The goal is for Beeson to meet with administrators this spring and summer, and staff, students and community in the fall to learn the kind of student experience is wished for. She will present the results in November.
The focus will be on the student experience and how facilities will assist with the district’s mission, Welker said.
The plan includes sharing the concepts and budget with the community in the winter of 2025.
If the cost for new construction is more than the community is willing to support, they will look at renovation options, he said.
Bostdorff asked why wait for so long to get input from the public.
“I don’t want to go to the community with a bunch of supposes,” Welker responded.
The current valuation of the district is $420 million, but as the abatements for Principal Business Enterprises, Calphalon, Home Depot and NSG end, the district’s valuation will go up, meaning the annual taxes needed to make debt payments will go down.
The district will be debt free in June 2025 after paying off the elementary school.
Board President AJ Haas said the intent is to get the data to the public as soon as possible in order to have an educated conversation.
November 2025 is the earliest to go on the ballot with a bond issue, if that is the direction the district decides to go. If the issue fails, the district will have one more attempt in 2026 before its agreement with OFCC expires.
If it passes on the first try, the district will break ground in 2027 after designs and bids are finalized.
More than 20 staff members took site visits in January to new schools in Shelby, Oak Harbor, Marion, North Royalton and Brunswick.
Welker said they noted STEM labs, extended learning areas and security.
He said he was not a fan of long hallways, garage door-type walls and lockers stacked on lockers.
Welker said more visits may be made depending on how the visioning meetings go.
An additional project could include the high school auditorium. It could be gutted and renovated with new seating, sound, stage and lights. The work would be funded with local dollars and would cost in the low seven figures, Welker estimated.
That wing of classrooms could be kept and become the board office and preschool. The ag shops, gym and cafeteria could also be maintained.
OFCC will co-pay for the abatement of asbestos and demotion of the remaining wings. Closing up the building will be paid for by the district.
Welker said he had no idea what would become of Pemberville Elementary, where the board off and preschool are currently located, if the district agreed to this additional project.
“It’s so far down the road,” he said.
Another Facilities Task Force meeting is planned for May, with the date to be determined.
