Pfeiffer Elementary student Teddy Chrapko fought to keep his school and classmates in the Kenmore community.
He created colorful posters expressing his love for his school, attended school board and city meetings and stood with parents and classmates at a pop-up rally outside the more than century-old elementary school that he often called home.
He nearly cried when his mom, Sandy, told him, “Bubby, we won.” The school board had voted to keep Pfeiffer in the Kenmore community instead of moving the students to other schools.
Wearing a construction hat on March 19, Teddy was all smiles as the fourth grader used a golden shovel to scoop the first piles of dirt for the construction of the new building that will serve as the home for both Pfeiffer Elementary and the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts.
“I’m just super happy that it’s going to be built over here,” said Teddy, 9, even though he noted that he will be too old to attend the new elementary school when it opens in August 2028.
The new 170,000-square-foot building, which has yet to be officially named, will be constructed in the parking lot of the former Kenmore High School at 2140 13th St. SW. The high school, which was combined with Garfield in 2017, closed in 2022 and was demolished last year.
With enough space to accommodate 750 students and 90 employees, the two-story building will be divided, with Miller South students occupying the north side and Pfeiffer’s students in the southern portion of the school, according to the latest draft renderings and site plans. The school’s targeted opening date is August 2028.
Officials emphasize project’s importance to Kenmore, students
The groundbreaking ceremony brought Pfeiffer’s roughly 200 students from prekindergarten to fifth grade and Miller South’s roughly 400 students in grades 4-8 to the site. They joined representatives from Akron Public Schools, the city of Akron, City Council, Summit County Council and state and federal offices, as well as South High School alumni and relatives of George C. Miller, who was Akron’s first black principal and namesake of Miller South school.
Officials repeatedly emphasized the significance of the $76 million project moving to the construction phase. They said the kickoff marks not only a triumph for the students, parents and school officials who wanted Pfeiffer to stay intact and in Kenmore, but also for those who called for an investment in the Kenmore community that they believe has been ignored for too long.
“Today is more than a groundbreaking day,” Superintendent Mary Outley said. “Today is a declaration that the children of the Kenmore neighborhood – that the children of this city – are worth investing in. They are worth showing up for and they are worth building something remarkable for.”
Akron Ward 9 council member Tina Boyes said the project, which places an art school a block away from Kenmore Boulevard’s vibrant art scene, will help build the social fabric of the community.
“We have something that everyone can celebrate,” she said. “It may not be a high school but it is two of the most vibrant schools in Akron, right here in our backyard, walkable and accessible to everyone in this neighborhood.”
Derrick Hall, former Akron school board president, called the school board’s vote to build the school on the former Kenmore High School site one of his proudest accomplishments.
Despite being a North High School graduate, Hall said he advocated for the Kenmore project over the also-needed replacement of North High School due to the “shameful” conditions at Miller South and the eroding educational footprint in the Kenmore community.
“Schools are the heartbeat of any community,” said Hall, noting that the number of schools in the neighborhood has dropped from 10 to four. “When we closed Kenmore High School, we ripped out the heart of this community. … This is one small way of making right the previous transgressions.”
Hall, now a state representative who serves on the Better Kenmore Community Development Corp. board, said the school project already is inspiring revitalization conversations. He planned to meet with other state and local leaders this week to discuss ways to invest in housing projects around the school site and explore new partnerships between the school and community organizations.
Miller South Principal Regina Anderson said the middle school already has been connecting with Kenmore organizations, with dance, jazz band and art show events being held in the community. She expects those partnerships to strengthen and grow once the building opens in 2028.
New building to feature Miller South’s neon sign, indoor slide
Architect Zach Forney with Prime AE Group said the building features students seem to be most excited about are the 750-seat theater and an indoor spiral slide on the Pfeiffer side of the school. He said Miller South’s iconic neon sign depicting the school’s name also will have a featured location in a main corridor of the new building.
The Miller South side will include classrooms and practice rooms for steel drums, dance, visual arts, band, orchestra, keyboard and vocal performers. Other spaces will be dedicated for theater scene design and costumes and a separate theater classroom with its own stage.
The second floor on the north side will feature classrooms for students in first grade through fifth grade, a life skills lab, recording and production studios and a media center.
Pfeiffer’s side of the new building will included art and music rooms, prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms, a media center, an extended learning area and specialized support spaces on the first floor. A small playground area is planned for just outside the kindergarten classrooms.
Classrooms for students in second grade through sixth grade and rooms for small group learning will be located on the second floor, plans show.
A new parking lot that will stretch from Battles Avenue to Wyoming Avenue will be built to the east of the new school. A large playground and two full-size basketball courts will be installed between the parking lot and 13th Street. A second parking lot is planned near the playground at the corner of Battles and 13th Street, proposals show.
After the school is built, Pfeiffer, which was built as Overlook school at 2081 Ninth St. SW in 1917, and Miller South, which opened at 1055 East Ave. as South High School in 1956, will be demolished.
Funding for the $76 million project will come from a $40 million loan the district borrowed, as well as federal stimulus funds and leftover bond funding from previous community learning center projects.
Reach Akron Beacon Journal staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kweir@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: APS breaks ground on new school in Kenmore for Pfeiffer, Miller South
Reporting by Kelli Weir, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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