Facility Focus

Approximately 700,000 square feet of academic facilities. 200 acres of land. One goal: Support an "ALite" education for each student in the Avon Lake City School District.

What's going on in our schools from a facilities and support staff standpoint? What projects are we working on in the Operations Department? Our quarterly facilities newsletter is a great way to stay up to date!

After the successful passage of a bond issue, it can seem like the design phase for new construction can take forever. It's been almost a year since voters approved the 37-year, $89 million measure to build a new 5-8 school on the current Learwood site and make critical renovations to the district's three remaining elementary schools - but the wait is about to pay off, because in June, shovels are going in the ground and the exciting work of actually building a new school is about to begin.

Join us! Dignitaries, community leaders, and selected students and staff will be turning over some dirt to officially kick off the first new school construction in Avon Lake in over 55 years. The groundbreaking will take place on June 1st at 10:00 a.m. at Learwood.

In the weeks and months following the groundbreaking, you will see construction trailers and equipment begin to appear on the site, and site work will begin! It's a very exciting time. The new building is scheduled to open in time for the 2028-29 school year, and construction (or, rather, deconstruction) will continue on the site through the spring of 2029, as Learwood Middle School is abated and demolished.

Thanks to the bond issue that passed last May, the District has been able to start some early renovations at Redwood - and the work can't happen quickly enough, as key systems have begun to fail due to age.

The boilers at Redwood, subject of frequent repairs over the last few years, needed to be replaced. The timing was not ideal (a midwinter boiler replacement), but Redwood now has energy-efficient boilers (see picture), new pumps, and a new master controller installed that will be able to control the rest of the HVAC system once the renovations are completed. Similar boiler replacement work will take place at Eastview and Westview, likely by next summer (those boilers - a different make and model than the former stacked boilers at Redwood - are in slightly better shape). The district is actively pursuing an energy-efficiency grant on these boilers, as well as boiler replacement at the high school (not covered by the bond issue) that will help stretch both bond and operating dollars for this critical infrastructure work throughout the district.

In addition to the boiler work, an early roof replacement project is in the works, as well. In addition to planned work at the high school this summer, there are several roof sections at Eastview, Redwood, and Westview, that are failing and need to be replaced. The district is working with ThenDesign Architecture and Greenspace Construction Services to make this early replacement package a reality. The elementary school work is covered by the bond issue. The work at the high school will come from the general fund. All sections being worked on are from the late 1980s to mid-1990s and are at the end of their service life.

We are thankful to the community for making dollars available to complete these essential renovations.

If there's one thing we've learned from the last 20 years of social media, it's that social media generally isn't the best place to get questions answered or solve problems! We just wanted to put in a plug this quarter for direct communication as the best way to report concerns, obtain information, or get questions answered.

A couple of examples from recent weeks:

• Following recent storms and high winds, residents called to report badly damaged trees on school property near their property lines. Thanks to their timely phone calls, we were able to get tree experts on-site within a few days to assess and remove the trees in question. With so much acreage to cover and so many trees on our properties, we rely on these reports to help identify issues before they become emergencies. We appreciate these calls!
• A resident posted on a local community site, questioning the condition of the fence behind the Learwood track. We would have appreciated the opportunity to answer this question directly, because phase one of the fence replacement (the majority of the public-facing fence line) was completed with the track renovations (which are in the punchlist stage), and phase two is about to get underway, but first we have to clear trees from the site to help protect the new track and to make room for future fence replacement. None of this is quick, easy, or cheap, and will take some time to complete. But it will get done!

We value our relationship with you - and the best way for us to provide timely, accurate information, or to get something repaired, is to hear about it directly. Please email or call us anytime. If the concern is maintenance-related, including pictures with an email is always good. The more details we have, the better we can serve the community.