New timeline, revisions for Wooster City Schools' master building plan
The decisive defeat of the Wooster City School District 6.7-mill master facilities plan at the polls in May resulted in it being significantly reworked to incorporate public feedback.
The revised plan will cost less money, construct one new building instead of two and preserve Cornerstone Elementary School.
The district has continued to take the process of master planning slowly and recently extended the timeline for returning to voters.
Instead of a November ballot issue, the master plan will be placed before voters in May 2025.
"With the tentative timing of the facilities plan being on the ballot next May," Jody Starcher, board president, said in an email, "it gives adequate time to educate the public, socialize the plan and continue to work through more details of the plan before the board votes."
Board taking its time, making sure community is well informed
Details include doing design work and identifying options for Cornerstone Elementary School, Starcher said.
Lengthening the timeline is a way to "make sure our community is well informed," said Superintendent Gabe Tudor.
No board action will need to be taken until late fall, Tudor said, at which point a series of three resolutions will need to be approved - two for getting the issue on the ballot and one for co-funding the project with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
The board also will need to pass a resolution approving the revised plan.
While an alternative plan, focused primarily on maintaining an educational presence at Cornerstone, was presented to the board by Tate Emerson at the December meeting, Tudor said, "we feel pretty good about the plan we recommended.
"It seems to be what most of the community supports," he said.
Tudor said the district hasn't received much feedback recently about the revised plan, the crux of which is building a new middle school on the site of the Wooster High School campus and preserving Cornerstone.
The community appears to be in support of constructing a new middle school, he said.
Starcher affirmed community feedback has been in support of a new middle school, generating "excitement" over a grade six to 12 setting on one campus between the middle school and the high school, and with grade eight being part of the middle school.
One-building plan, and saving Cornerstone
The revised plan is "a one-building ask," Tudor said, rather than the two new buildings proposed in the previous plan.
"It doesn't address every issue we have," Tudor said, but it does take into account concerns raised by the public.
The fate of Cornerstone was one of the biggest.
With the revised plan, Tudor said, "our intention is to work toward solutions to save the building," however, "not necessarily as a school district."
Other options are being explored, he said, to discover who might have interest in using the building and the financial means to do it.
The district is committed to making sure whatever the final use of the building becomes, it will be good for the community, Tudor said.
There has been some interest expressed in the building, he said.
Figuring out how to use it won't be "a free-for-all," Tudor stressed, adding, "We're still using the preschool."
Public opinion on Cornerstone has been "the most passionate and most diverse," he said.
The location of the eighth-grade population also was a topic under consideration.
Middle school north of Follis Field, Edgewood for grades three-five
The new middle school proposed to be built north of Follis Field will house the sixth-, seventh- and eighth grades, Tudor said.
Under the new plan, Edgewood Middle School, which he said is in good condition, will be the home for third, fourth and fifth grade.
The third-fifth grade solution incorporates the concept of grade banding, wish was another consideration on the table.
Third grade is good place to grade band, Tudor said, because it's the grade level in which significant state testing occurs and derives benefit from collaboration among teachers. It also makes sense in age development, Tudor said.
Although they will be "big neighborhoods," Tudor said, Kean, Melrose and Parkview will function as neighborhood schools housing kindergarten through second grade. Neighborhood schools were favored by some members of the public.
Regardless of a levy outcome, he said, those buildings will remain in use and are in need of repairs, including site work, sidewalks, paving, handicap accessibility and safety upgrades.
Fortunately, he said, "we have a healthy operating budget right now."
Instead of tacking repairs onto the levy request, they will be paid for out of the general fund.
"(The elementary buildings) all have different kinds of needs, but they are all doable," he said.
Total cost about half of the $102 million originally proposed
The total cost of the original plan, about $102 million for two buildings, was a major concern for voters.
"About half of that is our estimate" for the revised plan, Tudor said.
The district will continue to work with the architect, GPD, he said, adding, one of the top things gathered from public feedback was a desire for more visual renderings.
"We heard resoundingly from the community, 'Give us more information; give us more visuals,'" Tudor said.
Although the building is not 100% designed, the district plans to comply with the request to "provide more transparency."
Continuing to provide accurate and timely information is a district priority.
The two big differences of the revised plan are a lower cost and not tearing down Cornerstone Elementary School, Tudor said.
Starcher said she appreciates the administration "taking a step back, listening to the community through the survey and multiple community sessions to develop a revised plan."
"(It) is a good balance of a new building to meet the current needs of students," while continuing to use other district assets to reduce costs and support grade banding for grades three and up, Starcher summarized.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: New timeline, revisions for Wooster City Schools' master plan
