By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After years of being put on the back burner, planning for Bowling Green City Schools elementary buildings is starting to simmer.
The board of education voted during a special meeting Wednesday to enter a contract with a design firm for master planning services. The district received bids from five design firms, and narrowed down the top choices to DLR Group, Buehrer Group, and Kleinfelder.
The board directed Superintendent Ted Haselman to negotiate an agreement with DLR Group, the firm that designed the new high school currently under construction.
Board President Ardy Gonyer repeated a statement from earlier this year that there will be no tax issue on the ballot for the elementaries this year. On Wednesday, he added, “I could see that happening in 2027.”
While board members stressed they don’t want to rush the process, they also don’t want to stall studying the options.
The following items are listed in the architectural pre-bond issue assistance services:
- Assess existing facilities.
- Assist the board in determining the scope of any potential projects.
- Prepare estimates of costs for all the options.
- Provide feasibility studies of potential sites for new buildings.
- Provide necessary graphics to serve as informational tools for a potential bond issue.
- Attend community meetings to present information and provide technical assistance.
Gonyer said the district has much to do before picking the best plan and asking the voters to support it. As was done for the high school project, planning for the elementaries will involve input from community members, teachers and support staff.
“I’m excited about it. There’s a ton of work ahead,” Haselman said.
“This is the first step in a long process,” Treasurer Matt Feasel said.
The district has struggled to find a solution to its aging elementaries that voters will support. The options are many, including some that may not even be realized yet.
A study of the three elementaries – Conneaut, Crim and Kenwood – done years ago by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, came to the conclusion that the Conneaut and Kenwood buildings were not worth the district sinking any more money into. The Crim building, which has gone through extensive renovations, was determined to be salvageable.
Unlike the architectural study for the new high school, this examination of the elementaries has far more moving pieces. The options could include one new unified elementary, building two new K-5 elementaries, or building two new elementaries – one for K-2 students and another for grades 3-5.
“We’re all keeping an open mind,” board member Norm Geer said.
With each of these options, the study will look at construction costs, operations considerations, and the educational advantages of each.
Recognizing that these are tough times for tax levies in Ohio, Gonyer said last month that delaying dealing with the elementaries will only add to the costs. Nine years ago, when the district proposed a plan for a new high school and a consolidated elementary, voters rejected the dual project that came with a $70 million price tag.
That delay ultimately led to the district passing a bond issue for $72 million just for the high school.
“The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be,” Gonyer said.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Haselman read from a letter he had written to the community in 2023 to explain the district’s facility master plan published that year that covered all the school buildings.
“Recognizing that a perfect solution for every single stakeholder would be impossible due to varying and quite diverse perspectives, the work began soliciting thoughts and opinions,” the superintendent wrote. “Numerous members of the BGCS community and distinct staff spend many, many hours participating in activities, conversations and planning sessions in an attempt to find the best possible solution to address the aging facilities.”
“The plan meets the needs of all students, now and into the future, and provides best practices for teaching and learning activities,” Haselman continued. “Additionally, by utilizing eco-friendly mechanical systems such as geothermal heating and cooling, the new facilities can assist the district financially with lower operational expenditures and positively impact the world in which we live.”
The 2023 facility master plan for the entire district made some recommendations for the elementary schools.
Conneaut, Crim and Kenwood elementaries were built in the 1950s and 1960s – and 75 years later, they are not able to accommodate the district’s vision for future-ready learning due to space limitations, according to the report.
The teachers and staff in the buildings work diligently to retrofit existing infrastructure, making space for teachers and staff and creatively repurposing existing spaces to better support students. The presence of portable classrooms on the Conneaut campus has posed additional challenges to program accessibility and teacher collaboration.
Beyond the outdated infrastructure, technology and systems, the physical layout of the buildings does not accommodate desired teaching and learning, according to the report.
There are opportunities to apply planning and design strategies in the interim to enhance flexibility. Those include acquiring versatile furniture that can create collaborative zones within classrooms, fostering innovative interactions between students and teachers.
The report suggested that more comprehensive efforts – such as the planning for the new high school – should be extended to the elementary schools.
The master plan considered different scenarios for the elementaries that provide opportunities for expanded district resources, equality of resources to all students, and support of the families the district serves. The three options noted were:
- To foster equitable experiences and ensure no student or educator is limited by outdated facilities, consider the replacement of all three school buildings at their current sites to keep neighborhood schools.
- With a new recent addition, Crim Elementary could potentially accommodate district offices, pre-kindergarten students, and serve as an autism center. This transition could yield cost savings by relocating district offices to a district-owned facility, while expanding resources for district families. The replacement of Kenwood and Conneaut, along with the inclusion of students from Crim, would be under consideration.
- Build a single unifying elementary. Although this deviates from the idea of individual neighborhood schools, it ensures equal access to resources. This approach would potentially reduce maintenance costs, but it raises concerns about managing a single elementary with more than 1,000 students. Strategies creating smaller cohorts within a unified school could emulate the neighborhood concept while maintaining efficiency.
