Abby Rainieri, manager of planning and design at GPD Group, provided details Nov. 18 about the proposed combined campus for West Geauga Schools.
Abby Rainieri, manager of planning and design at GPD Group, provided details Nov. 18 about the proposed combined campus for West Geauga Schools.
Plans include a new middle and high school building under one roof with an auditorium, field house and upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, which are projected to cost around $128 million.
“We would, as part of this plan, abate and demolish Westwood (Elementary School), abate and demolish Lindsay (Elementary School) and abate and demolish the existing high school,” Rainieri said during the West Geauga Schools Board of Education meeting. “So, this is one path to that single-campus vision that was landed on.”
She said the new schools would be where the current practice fields are and the existing middle school would be repurposed as a pre-kindergarten-through-fifth-grade building.
Superintendent Rich Markwardt said the schools would be segregated within the building.
“The middle school would stay a middle school with its own administrator, its own students,” he said. “High school would stay a high school with its own administrator with its own students.”
Rainieri said the field house in Stow-Munroe Falls has features like a community walking track, multi-purpose courts and locker room facilities they are looking at for inspiration.
The school board is planning to vote in December on whether to put a bond initiative on the ballot in May, Treasurer Karen Pavlat said.
An updated facilities master plan was adopted by the board in a special meeting Jan. 31. Board President Christina Sherwood emphasized at the time the vote did not mean the plan was set in stone and was simply the board encouraging the community to look at the option.
Ultimately, the choice lies with the community, she said.
In addition last Monday, the school approved a contract for turf replacement with Vasco Sports for $580,841.
The project, which will replace the turf at Howell Field, is expected to be completed sometime in the summer of 2025.
