Questions and Answers: REVISED -- Sept. 12, 2014 The building looks expensive why didn t you go with a cheaper option. We did not add any expensive extras the design aspects are styled to match the N.O. Public Library to create a campus atmosphere as a gateway to the City. The design does not change the cost of the building. In fact, we are getting 4 buildings in one comprehensive plan a Middle School, High School, Performing Arts Center, and Athletic Complex. The completed campus will be a focal point for the community and provide great value and return on our investment. Why don t you just renovate the existing buildings? The cost to renovate the 85 year-old Middle School is $21,000,000 (76%) and the cost to renovate the 52-year old High School is $32,000,000 (67%) which only includes basic infrastructure needs and no upgrades. When the cost to renovate exceeds 66% of the cost to build a new building, it makes financial sense to build a new energy efficient 21 st century facility. The Middle School and High School continue to require expensive band-aids to fix multiple issues, including roofs, HVAC, technology, plumbing, safety and more. The District has a chance to receive some of the State money that has gone to many other districts to build new buildings and it makes financial sense to use the $9,000,000 from the State for our North Olmsted residents. Why are you including the High School in the plan? The High School is over 52 years old is located in a flood plain - and is in need of major renovations. The High School was refaced with a glass atrium almost 25 years ago after a fire destroyed the front half of the building. If you take off the front of the building, you have an outdated building that looks like Chestnut or Maple, with the same infrastructure issues. Will the plan be environmentally friendly? Yes. The building designs are energy efficient and green wherever possible. The goal is to reduce our operating costs, and this is part of the plan. Is there room for growth if we build and new families make us a suburb of choice? Yes. Enrollment projections and future anticipated growth are factored into the plan. The plans also provide for better ingress and egress on Butternut Ridge Rd. as the site will have direct access to Dover Center Rd. - with an added benefit to reduce traffic congestion on Revere and Burns Rds. The upside to a comprehensive plan is the opportunity to redevelop our 55-acre site for over half the district with a single initiative
that capitalizes on economic efficiency with the least amount of student disruption over the long term. Did you consider other options? Yes. The Community Facilities Task Force looked at a number of options in detail with the associated costs. The Task Force seriously studied the costs to renovate and it did not make financial sense. The $9,000,000 from the State was for new construction and to help address a Middle School that is ranked as the 3 rd worst school in the State of Ohio. Moving forward long term, this option provides the best value for the community. We have flooding issues in North Olmsted. Shouldn t we be focused on fixing those issues first? These are actually two separate issues, but the schools are working with the City for detention and retention basins to help address the flooding. Many other surrounding communities have also experienced flooding issues including Avon, Avon Lake, North Ridgeville and Olmsted Falls - due to their infrastructure issues and extreme weather situations this year. The comprehensive school plan will actually help to combat some of the negative fallout from the flooding because the plan addresses the issue in a proactive manner. For example, the plan will move the High School out of the flood plain and provide for a detention basin as part of a practice field. Working with the City to fix serious school building issues is a priority for both the City and the schools. My taxes are too high we just don t need a new building here. North Olmsted City Schools have not had any new building in almost 50 years. No community can thrive when they don t reinvest in themselves. Our surrounding suburbs have made the investment and they have seen the increase in population which helps stabilize the tax base of the City. We also finally have a chance to get funds ($9,000,000) from the State directed to North Olmsted and reinvested back into our community. We are also getting four facilities with a bond issue that addresses extensive issues. The 5.45 mill bond issue will cost the homeowner $15.00 per month, or $190.75 per year on a market value of $100,000. Senior residents (65 and over) who are eligible for the Homestead Exemption will receive an annual tax credit of $47.69, reducing their total annual cost to $143.06.
We don t have children or grandchildren in the schools. Why should we care about a new building? The North Olmsted School District has used taxpayer dollars in a cost effective and consistent manner to create a top ranked educational program in spite of many building limitations. The entire community benefits from a public school with a good reputation. We aren t just residents of a school district we are residents of a community. Our children and grandchildren play together, worship together, and grow up together. After years of hard work, the schools are consistently top ranked and are a source of pride for the community. High quality schools keep our community strong, attract new families, rebuild our neighborhoods, and improve our future as a destination suburb. Whether you plan to stay in North Olmsted or move on to other options in the future, the first question new families ask is how are the schools? We will not move forward as a community with 1930 s facilities. We ve talked about doing something for years now it is time to take action and make the changes needed to secure our future for all residents. Where will the kids go while a new building is being built? The plan is structured to minimize disruptions, but any capital building plan will require some flexibility and adjustments. The 7 th and 8 th graders will be moved to Pine Intermediate School with the addition of some trailers. The cost of moving the students has been factored into the plan, including the need for trailers. The other students will be moved to our other buildings with the goal to keep them as close to their neighborhood as possible with the least amount of disruption. The High School will remain open during construction. Will the 7 th and 8 th graders be kept together during the construction phase? Yes the academic programming and teaming for instructional delivery is designed to keep these two grades together. How long will the building process take? If the bond issue is approved in November, immediate work begins to secure permits, final designs, community input, and demolition of the Middle School, the Board Office and the two vacant houses on either side of the Middle School. The goal is to have our current 8 th graders be the 1 st graduating class from the new High School. What happens if it doesn t pass in November? The process is delayed by over a year and the construction costs continue to increase. There really is no upside to more delays the costs and repairs continue to drain operating money from the budget with no upgrades. The sooner we make the plan
reality, the sooner the other cost savings are realized. New construction will end costly repairs to aging and outdated buildings and help preserve financial stability in the long run. Where will the busses go? The plan is flexible, but the busses will move to Butternut where there is more room. The costs for the plan include relocation of the busses. The goal is to redevelop the site to make maximum use of the space to best serve the students and the community. Are you going to sell any of the land when you close some of the buildings? The goal is become more cost effective and save the taxpayers money. We have 9 buildings currently with fewer than 4,000 students. Reducing the number of buildings will increase operating efficiency, save taxpayer money, and meet the needs of a district enrollment that is half of what it was over 40 years ago. The Task Force which includes a number of financial experts - has repeatedly advised that this is an unsustainable business model for the district. As the plan moves forward more specific answers will be available. Where will the Board Office be housed? Again, the plans are flexible, but we are looking at some of the space at Butternut or another building and those costs have also been factored into the plan. Why are you moving the High School Stadium? Redeveloping the entire 55-acre site for new buildings requires changing the footprint. The plans include a new Athletic Complex, including a turfed field, all weather track, new concession stands, restrooms, weight room and more, with added opportunities to generate revenue and increase use. Will the new Performing Arts Complex and the Stadium be ready at the same time as the new 6-12 building? The comprehensive redevelopment of the entire campus is a big project. The goal is to have the academic portion completed first, but the construction timeline is not firm at this time. More details on specific dates for completion are part of the ongoing project.
Why did you include a Performing Arts Complex? Our district excels in academics, the arts, athletics and service to the community. One of the main missing components that the community has identified is the need for a place for the students and community to perform. We have an opportunity to really showcase our arts programs in a true 850-seat auditorium instead of a cafeteria or gym. After years of sitting on plastic chairs in a hot cafeteria where it is hard to hear, we will be able to finally have an auditorium in the City. How will the Middle School students be kept separate from the High School students? The building is designed with separate wings, entrances, start times and programs. It is essentially two buildings joined together with the opportunity for students to take higher level classes like they do now. The separate wings of the building will maintain the structure of separate schools with age appropriate programming, and provide many advantages for teachers, students and parents to collaborate and form solid relationships. For example, if an 8 th grader is taking an advanced High School class (as they do now), they would be able to walk to that class and back to the Middle School wing to resume their regular school schedule with minimal disruption and loss of time. Mentoring opportunities for older students to work with younger students will continue to have the positive benefit for students as it does now with programs such as WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) at the Middle School and the next step the High School Link Crew mentoring program. Supervised mentoring experiences, such as scouting, often involve older and younger students with great results. The biggest bonus is strong parental involvement for seven consecutive years. Strong connections to staff and other parents translate into strong community connections and involvement. It is a win-win! The building looks very expensive isn t there a less expensive design? The cost of the building is based on the basics square footage, building materials, and the configuration. The design does not add to the cost, but does provided a coordinated town focus to complement the public library design and create a true campus for the community. The OFCC standards for the size of classroom space, media centers, collaborative learning centers, gyms, cafeterias and staff areas are factored into the square footage of the two-story building. The building is sized to the square footage needed based on data for future enrollment projections. The total project cost is $89.3 million which includes the locally funded initiatives. The state is providing $9,000,000 towards the new school, which brings the bond issue request to $80.3 million. In effect, the community is getting four new
buildings with one plan a new Middle School, new High School, Performing Arts Center and Athletic Complex. What s a locally funded initiative? The locally funded areas include an upgraded floor material designed to withstand wear and tear in the highest use areas. The terrazzo flooring in the high traffic areas is a smart long-term investment as other communities who opted for the lower grade flooring are finding it doesn t hold up and needs to be replaced as an extra expense. The Performing Arts Center includes an 850-seat auditorium for community use. Many residents have stated high support for this venue to support the community cultural arts programs and the lack of any true auditorium in the City. The upgraded Athletic Complex includes relocating the stadium, providing a new turf field and new track, new concession area, restrooms, stands and upgrades to bring North Olmsted out of the cellar when it comes to surrounding communities and athletic facilities. The $9,000,000 from the State (which is applied to the cost of the school building) helps to offset the cost of the locally funded initiatives. Will the current football field be available for use while the new building is being constructed? The athletic contests may need to be scheduled at other facilities during the construction phase. The goal is to be the least disruptive to the academic programming for the majority of students. Will the new football stands be concrete? The new stands will be safe and secure with handicapped accessibility and superior design than what was available when it was built in 1956. What about the parking and traffic flow? Parking concerns are a priority and the proposed new design provides for increased parking based on the work done by the Ohio School Design guidelines. The new plan will allow direct ingress and egress to Dover Center Road and improved traffic flow on Burns and Revere Rds.
What about the funds already raised for a turf field? The Stadium Foundation is working with the district and knows that a complete athletic upgrade is possible as part of the comprehensive plan. The bond issue provides for the field, track, stands, concession and restroom areas, and more. The Foundation members are fully supportive of the efforts to completely upgrade our athletic facilities to be competitive with surrounding communities. Is the site plan finalized? In any major construction project, adjustments and improvements are made as the design work moves forward. The plan is a solid effort to address years of talking and unmet needs of the students and community. It is a bold and solid vision for the community and is expected to generate interest and questions as it addresses serious needs. Questions are great examples of interest in the plan with the goal to stop wasting more precious years talking about how to fix the issues and taking action to make it happen. What happens if the bond issue fails in November? We lose an opportunity to finally address long-standing issues with our facilities that have been studied and talked about for decades. The costs to build continue to increase, and our students and community are faced with the same problems increasing costs to maintain aging and outdated facilities. Why don t you do the project in phases and do the primary schools first? The project being proposed will take care of over half the district at one time and provides the largest return on our investment. We are actually getting four buildings for the cost of one bond issue. The $9,000,000 from the State must be used to serve the middle school population in a new facility. In order to maximize the funds, we are able to include our high school building in the plan, which will free up the money used to maintain the aging buildings for use in the primary buildings. The primary buildings are part of the comprehensive plan and their needs will be addressed. It makes good planning sense to have students in grades 6 12 move through seven years of instruction with modern and consistent technology and facilities.
I am a senior resident and wonder what s in it for me. This is a comprehensive plan that includes the community. Instead of viewing a musical or play performance in a cafeteria where it is hard to see and hear, residents can enjoy a true auditorium experience. Booster organizations or community groups could host a dinner using the cafeterias before the performance, and walk over to the Performing Arts Center to see a play, concert or musical. This opportunity for the community to come together in our schools at a social event or classroom experience helps build spirit and pride in North Olmsted. Upgrades to the Athletic Complex will also benefit residents, including a new track. Property values are shown to increase with new construction whether you plan to stay or leave. It is economic redevelopment for the City of North Olmsted making us a destination suburb. We have a great location close to parks, the lake, transportation, health facilities, the airport, shopping and restaurants, and so much more, and our public schools are a major factor in the desirability of our community.