Getting it and the middle school, which was built in 1970, to that state, however, has been a 10-year effort, according to Superintendent Greg Young.
“At the time, the district realized we needed more space and that our buildings were beginning to show some age,” he said. “Our biggest concerns were getting the buildings up to current code and the life safety concerns for our students.”
Fortunately, around the same time the Ohio School Facilities Commission began offering money for districts around the state to build new schools and renovate existing buildings.
“They assessed all of our buildings to see what our needs are,” he said, and came up with a plan to offer Ross $50 million for renovation and construction, but the district had to provide 52 percent of the cost.
“The master plan included the new high school, the renovation of Elda and the middle school, and a third elementary school if we needed it,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, however, the housing market took a dive, and so the third elementary school idea was tabled, and will likely remain so for at least another decade.
“When we did the master plan, the conversation was to put a third elementary in the Millville area, but the building of subdivisions came to a halt,” Young said. “It will have to be done eventually. But I don’t see the housing market rebounding to the point that we’ll need it for at least 10 years.”
The program, he said, “was a great deal for our taxpayers, so we got a bond issue passed in ‘02 based on our 52 percent of the construction costs. They deserve kudos for sharing our vision and seeing where we needed to go to improve our facilities.”
The new high school opened for the 2005-06 school year, and they added a gymnasium and some classrooms onto Elda.
“We did those projects out of our 52 percent,” Young said. “We didn’t have the money to do it all at once. We weren’t eligible for the state funds until ‘09 because they ranked all of the districts from most needy to the least, and we were somewhere in the middle.”
The last step of the project will be a renovation of Morgan Elementary, which was built in the early 1980s.
“The most crucial part of all of this in my mind is creating great spaces for kids,” he said, “and a big part of that has been putting a technology infrastructure in place.”
The changes at both Elda and the middle school begin at the front door with a new secure entrance that forces people to buzz in and go through the front office before entering. There are video cameras throughout, inside and out.
The renovations in the kitchen allow students to have more and healthier choices for lunch, and they’ll introduce a cashless payment system.
“The kids all have an ID number that was assigned to them when they started school,” Young explained. “When a student checks out, the cashier will enter that number and a picture of the student will pop up and deduct the amount from the student’s account.”
Parents can pay into the account online with a credit card or by sending cash or a check to the front office.
“Parents can also put restrictions on what the kid is allowed to eat,” Young said, “if they don’t want them to have ice cream or salty snacks.”
The middle school gymnasium has been outfitted with a new floor, new bleachers and a more energy-efficient lighting system.
Bringing both buildings up to state-of-the-art meant using current technology to make them more green and bring them up to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an internationally recognized green building certification system, standards for Silver Certification.
“Silver is about the highest you can go with a renovation,” Young said.
Both schools are not only fully air conditioned now, but equipped with carbon dioxide sensors that adjusts the amount of air flow, an efficient and cost-effective system.
“It gives us the option of lengthening the school year as well as letting kids concentrate on learning because they’re more comfortable,” Young said. “If you have a room full of kids, you’ll get the maximum air flow, but when they go to lunch, it shuts off. The biggest cost of heating and cooling is bringing in the fresh air, so we’ll be able to save some money there.”
Each classroom is fitted with a projection system and interactive white boards, using eno systems manufactured by PolyVision, which is a little different from the SmartBoards in that they can still function as a white board while saving some wall space.
There are new windows and doors throughout both buildings, all new electrical and plumbing systems, new floors and ceilings.
All of this will lead to reduced utility costs for the district, Young said, but it’s tough to know how much until they get a full year of operating with the new systems.
Much of the work was done during the school year, which required a lot of moving and shifting of classrooms. Each Elda teacher had to make at least two moves while workers gutted and renovated blocks of five or six classrooms at a time.
“I have to give our teachers and administrators credit for pulling it off,” Young said. “And our parents were very patient. I think everybody knew that the end product was going to make it worthwhile.”
During the process, Young said that building and fire inspectors made regular visits to make sure that everything was being done safely, and that each construction worker had to go through a background check before being allowed into the building.
“Student safety was our number one concern throughout the whole process,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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