Amanda-Clearcreek prepares for future with Master Facility Plan
AMANDA − A Fairfield County school district has outlined a facility plan for the future.
The Amanda-Clearcreek Board of Education recently approved the district's Master Facility Plan which includes an addition to the primary building.
Superintendent of Amanda-Clearcreek School District Timothy Edwards said over the past few months, the district has been going through the process of assessing what its Master Facility Plan should look like. He said that the end result addresses the current needs of the district while also planning for the future.
“This Master Facilities Plan allows our district to reinvest in the school buildings that our community made possible for our district to build in the early 2000s," said Edwards in the news release. "These ‘new’ schools are nearly 20 years old, which require maintenance and upkeep to ensure our buildings last well into the future. This planning process allows our district to make the most economical decisions now, while also supporting the potential needs for future growth decades down the road on our existing campus.”
"We started this process in December of 2022," said Edwards. "Kind of looking at needs of the district, as far as what our current needs are. We also started looking at our enrollment trends with growth in Central Ohio, what impact that has on our district and looking at future years down the road."
Edwards reiterated the importance of preparing for the future.
"The team wanted to have a plan so that we weren't building things then having a need later on where we would have to redo something," said Edwards. "So, really trying to be the best stewards of the money that we have and create a plan that will live on many years down the road."
The Master Facility Plan is expected to include four different phases, with the first addressing the immediate needs of the district. Edwards said that phase one will be an addition to the primary building, including seven new classrooms.
The district identified a need for additional classrooms as they experienced growth.
"As we have seen some slow growth we have had to add additional classrooms per grade level," said Edwards. "For example, last year added an additional kindergarten class. Next year, we're adding an additional second grade class. Just expanding that number of classes per grade level is kind of where we're seeing the need for additional classrooms."
Edwards said that additional classrooms will help meet the educational needs of students.
In addition to new classrooms, an HVAC system will be installed in the gym, work will be done with the bathrooms, and more.
Edwards said that it was important to show the community that they are building upon their previous investments in the district.
"The community, they invested in these buildings, and we wanted to highlight to the community that we have, over the past couple of years, tried to reinvest into that investment," said Edwards.
Treasurer and CFO of Amanda-Cleacreek School District Lana Fairchild said that the board has not yet made decisions on how to pay for the Master Facility Plan. She said the district is looking at all options.
"The board has not made any decisions on how we are going to pay for this," said Fairchild. "We do have funds available to pay for it. However, we're going to look at all options to make sure we take advantage of any financing opportunities we might have."
"We will be looking at the most cost-effective way to finance it or pay for it," said Fairchild.
Edwards made a final point of emphasizing that while this plan is set to include four phases, they will not all be done in the immediate future.
"That final phase is really a future phase, so it's not really something that we're saying we're moving toward right now, it's just a blueprint for what we could do if there's a need," said Edwards.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Amanda-Clearcreek prepares for future with Master Facility Plan
