Q. Why are you considering a building project now?
A. We are considering a building project right now for several reasons:
1) The Ohio School Facilities Commission is offering to co-fund $6.8 million. The tobacco settlement dollars that the OSFC had been using to fund building projects is now all allocated, so our offer of dollars is from the state’s annual budget. There is no guarantee that the state will continue to fund this budget item in the future.
2) Interest rates are very low right now, which will lower the overall cost to taxpayers for the project.
3) Continual repairs to the current building are ongoing and will only get costlier.
4) The longer we wait to build, the higher the cost of building will become.
Q. How does square feet of the current K-8 building compare to the proposed new K-8 building?
A. The current K-8 building has 115,417 square feet. The proposed new K-8 building will have 80,540 square feet.
Q. Assuming we pass a levy in February, when will a building be completed?
A. A good rule of thumb is 36 months. NOTE: Since the community meeting on September 13, 2011, the Ohio legislature has changed the date of the primary election from May to March. Therefore, the Board of Education has decided to be on the March, 2012, ballot rather than the special election in February, 2012.
Q. Why will OSFC only co-fund a K-6 building, but we need a K-8 building?
A. OSFC considers our high school building oversized, and thinks that we can accommodate grades 7 and 8 in that building. However, our oversized areas, per the OSFC assessment, are in areas such as the gym, library, shop, band room, auditorium, and hallways; all areas that cannot easily be converted to classroom space. Actually, their assessment shows that our classroom space is undersized for the 9-12 population. Regardless, because they believe we can accommodate grades 7 and 8 in the high school, they are unwilling to co-fund a K-8.
Q. Why don’t you just put grades 7th and 8th in the High School building and build a K-6 building?
A. Although the OSFC states that the High School is oversized for grades 9-12, the oversized areas are not in the classroom spaces. It is in the gymnasium, shop, hallways and library. These spaces cannot be easily converted to classroom spaces.
Q. Can you reconcile why a co-funded K-6 building total cost is $13.6 M, but a K-8 building total cost is $20 M? It is just the addition of two grade levels.
A. Not all of the cost increase can be attributed to the addition of grades 7 and 8. The $13.6 M only counts for the co-funded square feet from the OSFC calculation. For example, the OSFC assumes there will be 25 students in each classroom. The number of students per grade level in New Bremen does not fit nicely into that formula. If we have 65 students in one grade level, OSFC is co-funding 2.6 classrooms, but we need 3.0 classrooms. This is why we need additional square footage even for K-6. Also, additional square footage over the OSFC allowable amount is being sought in the media center, music spaces, building services, i.e. maintenance areas and hallways, and for a larger gym that can accommodate bleachers.
Q. Won’t there be traffic issues with all the students at one location?
A. We realize this will be an issue. When we were still a K-12 building, we had a staggered release time, where the Elementary students were let out 10-15 minutes earlier than the High School. We also anticipate having a separate pick-up/drop-off zone for Elementary students, away from the High School traffic. We would study this issue to make sure all of our students are safe.
Q, Will the K-12 students be segregated?
A. Yes, the building will be separated by a connector. There may be some intermingling of junior and senior high school students, but a design requirement would be to keep elementary and high school students separated.
Q. Will the rest of the High School parking lot be paved if we build at that site?
A. Tentatively, yes. Parking is a co-funded expense.
Q. Are parking lots and playgrounds included in the cost estimates for the building projects?
A. The OSFC does have an allotment for parking lots and playgrounds in their cost figures.
Q. Can you take any of the furnishings, technology, and/or playground equipment with you to the new building?
A. Yes, we could take items such as newer technology with us to the new building. We could also move our existing playground equipment, but it would be at our expense. Any furnishings that are in good shape or fairly new could also be taken to the new building. However, the OSFC does allocate for new furnishings in a new building – i.e. student desks, teacher desks, chairs, cafeteria tables, etc.
Q. If you are going to build new, why not keep it at the current Elementary/MS location – maybe on the baseball and/or football fields?
A. By building at the high school site, we can share spaces like the band and industrials arts rooms. We would also use the high school kitchen to prepare all food for both buildings. The food for the elementary students would be moved to a smaller warming kitchen and served from there. If we don’t utilize these shared spaces by building on the high school campus, it would cost approximately $2.5 – 3.0 M more to build those spaces. Additionally, we currently have eight traveling teachers that teach in both the High School and Elementary/Middle School locations.