Chardon BOE Exploring Master Plan Options
Warm, safe and dry remain prominent infrastructure goals for Chardon Schools Board of Education members as they consider options for a new campus master plan.
Warm, safe and dry remain prominent infrastructure goals for Chardon Schools Board of Education members as they consider options for a new campus master plan.
The board approved a proposal from ThenDesign Architecture at its March 17 meeting as a starting off point.
The plans are conceptual and exploratory, Superintendent Mike Hanlon emphasized, adding the district would want feedback from the community before any kind of funding request was made.
“The board’s direction in keeping with our district success plan was to continue from using the presentation that TDA provided to the district in September as the jumping off point, continue with the work to evaluate some different ways that we might consider moving forward with capital improvements in our district,” he said.
TDA’s September presentation gave three ranges of facility and infrastructure needs within the district, Hanlon recalled. These included immediate, less than three-year needs, three-to-five-year needs and more-than-five-year needs.
“There was a significant list of repairs that TDA brought to the board’s attention and while we have been tackling a lot of those things in order for us to accelerate that, we need to really put a cost and a schedule to that,” the superintendent said.
TDA’s current proposal provides several options for the district, including prioritizing facility renovations based upon the September assessment, building a new 600-student, pre-kindergarten-through-third-grade building or reprogramming the district’s current setup.
New construction could involve building on the existing Park Elementary School and Park Auditorium site, including the library parcel; demolishing the Chardon Early Learning Center (former Maple Elementary School) and building on that site, utilizing space in the high school student parking lot; or building on the Chardon Middle School site and demolishing the current administrative building, according to TDA’s proposal.
The final option suggests a new administrative building as part of the pre-kindergarten-through-third-grade building, with all the options incorporating a new auditorium capable of seating up to 500 people.
As part of the academic reprogramming considerations, TDA will be conducting a feasibility study of the existing schools. The study would include discussion with Chardon staff over goals for reprogramming and review of the schools’ current floorplans, according to TDA.
“This would be, for lack of a better term, if we were looking to go out to the studs and really reinvent or re-imagine what our spaces at the middle school or the high school could look like and do more complete renovation and design it to meet our educational programming needs of today,” Hanlon said.
Board member Andrea Clark asked when the community would be involved in the discussion.
“The first thing that hit me (upon reading) was, everyone keeps talking about bringing fourth grade back down to elementary, is that ever a possibility? And then, do we renovate, or do we actually consider this new building?” she said. “Because I think (the public) spoke strongly against the high school. I’m not sure if they’d speak strongly against elementary school.”
Community involvement needs to happen before people are presented with options, she added.
The community will be brought into the discussion with TDA as proposals are developed, Hanlon said.
“This was envisioned to be a long-term (project), this is not a quick turn-around item,” he said. “Building that capacity and understanding within the community is very important, especially if we’re moving to a new construction concept.”
Board President Karen Blankenship asked for a timeline of when the board would have more information from TDA.
Hanlon said he hoped to have it at some point between the March meeting and August.
“I think this is an important step forward for us to take a look at our other options,” Blankenship said.
In other business, board member Todd Albright recounted his experience testifying at the state house regarding the governor’s proposed budget, which reduces state funding to schools.
“I don’t personally think it went all that well, that’s just my impression of it,” he said.
Albright also expressed appreciation for the variety of people testifying and their passion.
“In efforts to save money or re-allocate funds, a great deal of children are going to lose out in this equation and I can’t help but think that some of this is almost like a vendetta,” he said.
Albright encouraged people to make phone calls and write letters to legislators.
Hanlon said he spoke with other people who were in the room during Albright’s testimony and they all thought he did a great job.
Several board members thanked him for his efforts.
