Columbus City Schools spending $506,520 to assess which school buildings to fix or close

The Columbus City school board has approved a $506,520 contract with a national company that will evaluate conditions at its more than 100 buildings to help district officials consider which buildings might close and which ones to fix.

Sightlines LLC, headquartered in Guilford, Connecticut, will also help determine which buildings need upgrades and prioritize the work. The agreement calls for Sightlines to subcontract at least 20% of the work locally.

Superintendent Angela Chapman said previously that district officials will discuss plans to consolidate schools.

On Tuesday, after the board's last meeting of 2023, held at Marion-Franklin High School, Chapman said the district needs to assess all 113 school buildings in addition to the Downtown administrative building, 270 E. State St.

"We need to develop a long-term plan," Chapman said. "What is the life cycle for our current assets?

"It is going to be a heavy lift," she said of the assessment.

Chapman didn't have a timetable for when the work might be done.

Columbus City Schools, the state's largest district, enroll about 46,000 students, according to the its website. District enrollment peaked at 110,173 during the 1971-72 school year.

On Nov. 7, voters approved a 7.7-mill levy that will raise close to $100 million a year. Of that, 3 mills, or $38.6 million per year, would go toward operating expenses, while the other 4.7 mills, or $60.5 million per year, would be used for improvements and maintenance of the district's buildings.

According to the district, the last time buildings were comprehensively assessed was in 2001 by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

In an emailed statement sent before the meeting, NAACP Columbus Branch President Nana Watson said the contract with an out-of-state company "certainly is not a win for local diverse firms" with only 20% of the contract going to local firms including minority and Black businesses.

"Neither does it exemplify sound expenditures of taxpayers’ dollars," she wrote. "It’s inexcusable."

The NAACP's position was repeated during the public comment portion of the board meeting.

While Board President Jennifer Adair has said a building assessment study was needed to determine the condition of district buildings, she voted against it. After the meeting, she said she did so because she was concerned the work wasn't going to a local company.

The board on Tuesday also approved a $2.54-million contract with Johnson-Laux Construction Ohio LLC of Cleveland to renovate Scottwood Elementary School, 3392 Scottwood Road, on the East Side. The amount of money being spent on the building for renovations suggests it will not be among the district closes after the assessment study.

Several speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting asked the board to keep the Columbus Online Academy K-6 program open. It is scheduled to close after the 2023-2024 school year.

John Coneglio, president of the Columbus Education Association, said he has watched a significant number of Columbus City students move to charter and private schools over the years.

"You cannot close your way to success," he said. "Stop managing the slow decline of Columbus City Schools."

Teacher Jennifer Harvey said students in the district deserve options and said students should not be abandoned.

About 30 people stood in the audience while they spoke, holding yellow signs that said, "Stay In The Game, Keep Online K-6 Academy Open."

The group gave board members a letter that said the online school includes students who are unhoused or facing the threat of domestic violence for whom a brick-and-mortar education is not an option.

Chapman said the program is closing because the number of families peaked at 2,000 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number dropping to 150 now.

Tuesday's meeting was also the last for board members Eric Brown and Carol Beckerle. They are being replaced by two elected in November: Brandon Simmons and Sarah Ingles.

Adair is remaining on the board but she said she will not be board president next year. She mentioned the three-day 2022 teacher's strike and other issues.

"The work of the school board is not easy," she said.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Study to help determine which Columbus City schools to fix or close