Ravenna School District, which plans to close a second elementary building at the end of the school year, might construct a new elementary school using mostly state funds.
Jeremy McDevitt, director of business and operations for the district, recently told Portage County commissioners that the district has the opportunity to build a new elementary school with assistance from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. The agency would pay for three-quarters of the building cost.
A new building would serve students in kindergarten through sixth grade, and allow the district to close two more buildings. The move would put all students except preschoolers on the same campus.
While the district is considering two sites, the preferred location is near Ravenna High School on North Chestnut Street, McDevitt said.
McDevitt approached commissioners because the school district is interested in an 11-acre parcel that is northwest of the high school, which could accommodate a second building on the property. He floated the possibility of a “land swap,” trading West Main Elementary School for the site.
Commissioners have not yet made a decision.
Why is Ravenna considering a new building?
Ravenna Superintendent Ben Ribelin said with the exception of Ravenna High School, which opened in 2010, the schools operating in the district are 50 to 70 years old. The former Rausch Elementary School, closed since 2008 and used for storage, was built in 1911.
Willyard Elementary School, which was built in 1974, is the district’s newest elementary building. West Main, Brown and Carlin Elementary School, which now hosts the district’s preschool and Board of Education offices, all were constructed in the 1950s.
The older buildings carry high maintenance costs, Ribelin said. The bond issue that funded construction of the high school included money for maintenance. Funds to maintain other buildings come from other sources.
The state, he said, rarely provides funding at the level it’s offering Ravenna. When the high school was built, it received 53% funding from the state.
“Very, very little people in the state are going to have the opportunity to build this big of a project at that much of a reduced cost,” he said. “We have to explore every opportunity that is open to us.”
The district, he said, has hired Fanning and Howey as pre-bond counsel. A report from the firm is expected in April.
Until that report is done, it’s not clear where the district will build, how much the project would cost, or how it would be funded. Ribelin said.
Ravenna school buildings shift due to enrollment
Because of declining enrollment, Ravenna has been shifting the way it has uses its buildings over the past two years.
Last year, it closed West Park Elementary School, the district’s kindergarten building. Kindergarteners now attend Willyard, which already housed first and second graders.
Recently, Ravenna announced West Main also will be closing, with students being shuffled throughout the district. Third and fourth graders who had attended West Main will move to Brown Middle School, which also has fifth and sixth graders. Seventh and eighth graders will move from Brown to Ravenna High School, which then would have students in grades seven through 12. Use of Carlin Elementary School will not change.
The district also announced that the former Tappan Elementary School would be sold. Education Alternatives, which has leased the building since Tappan closed in 2013, has expressed interest in purchasing the school, but that deal has not been finalized, Ribelin said.
Portage Leadership Academy, a charter school serving grades kindergarten through five, plans to open in the former West Park building in the fall.
Potential land swap explained
Right now, Willyard Elementary School and the high school property are being considered for a new school.
Fanning and Howey is evaluating those sites. The board is expected to commit to a building plan in April. The OFCC is expected to approve the plan in July, and the district would then have 16 months to secure funding.
McDevitt told commissioners that the Willyard site is 12 acres. However, the state assessment of the building has determined that the cost to renovate would exceed the cost of a new building. The district could construct a new building behind the old one, he said.
The district prefers adding a second building near the high school, but there are drawbacks. Some parts of the property contain wetlands that can’t be used for construction. The school also has practice fields and parking areas that would be lost or would need to be relocated if a second building were to be built there.
That’s why the district is eying the county-owned, 11-acre site, either as a potential building site, or for parking or practice fields.
The West Main site is just over 2.5 acres, he said, but offers a “prime location on Main Street.”
McDevitt said the district would still be interested in the 11 acres, even if the county decides that it doesn’t want West Main.
Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett said she checked with University Hospitals and discovered that the hospital system, which also abuts the property, has no interest in the landlocked, 11-acre parcel. She said she would be interested in the school district obtaining the property.
Ribelin: ‘We’ve got a lot to process’
Ribelin said having all the students on one campus would simplify bus transportation, and transitioning students from one building to another.
Although the district’s goal is to present the most “fiscally responsible” option to voters, that option won’t be clear until Fanning and Howey delivers its report.
Nor is it clear what would become of the Brown site, or potentially the Willyard site, if the new school is built.
“We’ve got a lot to process,” he said.
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ravenna could build new elementary with help from state
Reporting by Diane Smith, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
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