Loudonville-Perrysville Schools presents two options for new building

LOUDONVILLE — After a nearly two-year process, Loudonville-Perrysville Schools unveiled options for a new master facilities plan to the community this week.

The district had a meeting in Perrysville on April 25, and another Monday evening, to share the work its master facilities planning task force conducted. In the end, two options emerged for the district’s facilities.

Both options include a new building that would house pre-kindergarten through 12th graders at the site where Loudonville High School now sits.

A “Red” project option features a fully connected, one-story building. There would be renovations to the high school’s existing shop building. That plan also includes a “swing space,” where students would have the ability to continue their learning while construction takes place.

The other option, a “Gray” option, includes additional square footage for career and technical education. It would feature a two-story building. The “Gray” option doesn’t include a swing space.

The “Red” project cost estimate sits at $73,791,711, while the “Gray” option cost comes in at $74,368,749.

The project, should it move forward, would be partly funded by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

The commission has a program called the Classroom Facilities Assistance Program, which doles out funding to districts based on the assessed property valuation for each student.

Supt. Jennifer Allerding said the district would pursue options to bring down the cost as well. She suggested asking donors to pitch in as an example of ways the district is considering lowering the project costs.

How’d the district come to that decision?

Allerding, along with teachers, task force members and representatives from Garmann-Miller, a K-12 professional planning and design firm, told attendees at Monday’s meeting that the process of developing the current options went through several phases.

The task force considered factors like acreage, fiscal responsibility and longevity, according to member Molly Kern.

Throughout the process of determining the best options, teachers and Allerding also took tours of other buildings Garmann-Miller designed. Teachers shared several challenges the current buildings have, and highlights from the buildings they toured.

They said they wanted to see more functionality in their classrooms and spaces. Flexible seating served as another positive aspect of the classrooms in the buildings they toured.

The teachers also emphasized that upgrades were a matter of safety. They shared that one of the buildings didn’t have a public address system that reached the whole building. In a recent lockdown, a class in the cafeteria didn’t hear the announcement.

Either upgrades or a new building would solve those challenges.

But when the task force considered upgrading, they found that upgrades at McMullen Elementary School, Budd School and the high school would each cost 75% or more of the cost to construct a new building.

Receiving feedback

After the presentation and sharing the “Red” and “Gray” options with attendees, Allerding turned it over to the community to discuss. People were encouraged to ask questions, talk with each other about the options and put together pro and con lists.

Then, the evening ended by bringing everyone’s attention back together and making a group pro-con list for each option.

Bob Buzzard, a 1970 graduate of Loudonville-Perrysville Schools, said he came to Monday’s meeting, and attended the one last week. His children have graduated from the district, but he still felt it important to come out to the meetings.

Buzzard felt that the new building proposed was needed. He said he preferred the “Red” option because of the swing space, faster timeline and one-story floor plan.

The “pro” list for the Red option had several more factors on it than for the “Gray” option. People also cast votes on their way out with stickers, and the “Red” option received several more votes than the “Gray” one.

Next steps

But a decision hasn’t been made yet.

The task force will meet again next week to make a choice about the option it’ll present to the school board.

Then, the board will have to approve it, along with moving to put a property tax levy on the ballot in November to pay for the project.

Allerding said those actions will likely be on the board’s agenda for its May 13 meeting.

Kern, one of the task force members, told attendees that if the building process doesn’t move forward this year, the district may not have another opportunity to get it done.

“This is a turning point,” Kern said.