Reports From Citizens' Committees, Consultant Suggest Closing Schools in CHUH District

Reports from a consultant to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District include several options for managing the district’s outdated buildings, including one that would require the eventual closing of six schools.

But if no schools are closed, renovations necessary to bring the 11 existing buildings* to 21st-century standards could cost as much as $226 million. 

The renovations envision dramatic changes to the layout of school buildings, creating much larger classrooms divided by glass partitions, converting hallways and other unused spaces into learning centers, multi-building, campus-like school sites and amphitheater-style classrooms outside, among several other suggestions.

Basic heating, cooling, electric and plumbing systems also need updated. 

All this is included in reports from consultant Fielding Nair International and a citizens' facilities committee. Both presented in a public meeting April 27 at , and their findings will receive public comment at the “Community Listening Session” at 7 tonight at the Social Room.

The district began examining the structural condition of its schools last year, when the Ohio School Facilities Commission concluded that the buildings were antiquated and required a major overhaul. 

In response, the district formed the CHUH School Facilities Committee, which includes teachers, school administrators, City Council members, parents and others, and is divided into four subcommittees.

The group began surveying school facilities in September to determine how to address the state’s findings, and Fielding Nair was hired in February for about $13,400 to devise broad recommendations based on work at other schools around the world and its study of CHUH. The consultant and two subcommittees of the citizens' group – finance and facilities options – presented their findings to the full committee at the end of April. 

All concluded that reducing the overall physical size of the district and renovating and possibly rebuilding was essential, as the student population is expected to drop in the future and facilities are outdated. And voters would have to pass a bond issue to pay for some of the upgrades. 

But despite the structures' limitations, educators in the district are incorporating effective, modern teaching techniques. 

"The Fielding Nair report illustrated that our teachers and students are not only ready for 21st-century learning spaces, but that they are already creating them on their own. Our teachers have pushed tables into wide hallways so they could collaborate with other teachers during planning periods, and students are squeezing into corners of classrooms for project-based learning," said Angee Shaker, communications director for CHUH schools. 

Representatives from the Ohio School Facilities Commission who attended the meeting were impressed.

"We are really excited about what they are doing, because they seem to be taking their time and doing everything right," said Melanie Drerup, deputy chief of planning for the OSFC. "We are watching the Cleveland Heights-University Heights District closely. They could be a model." 

Although the possibility of closing schools was mentioned during the presentation, committee members and the consultant did not discuss them in detail. The consultant’s presentation omitted details from its final report, including a page showing three options for school closings proposed by the CHUH district. The minimum option would require closing two schools; the maximum would require six. 

Fielding Nair favored option "A" from the district, which envisions four campuses with pre-kindergarten through eighth grades and a high school site. 

"By utilizing CHUH's prosed option 'A' for five campuses with co-located schools … even greater opportunities for savings in facility size are possible," wrote Fielding Nair in its report. "This option for grouping student(s) of different ages on a single campus is in consonance with (Fielding Nair's) experience and (a) best practice (in) many countries — leveraging the strength of multi-age groupings, peer mentoring, and shared facility assets such as athletic facilities, performance spaces and food preparation."

Closing schools would bring the cost to renovate facilities down to about $170 million or $180 million, according to the Facilities Options Subcommittee. The subcommittee emphasized the importance of preserving closed schools and reusing the buildings during its report, like what has happened with Coventry School. 

The closing of Coventry School in June 2007 provoked neighborhood outrage, and school officials still tread lightly when discussing the issue. to get residents' feedback about the , and those who spoke commended the district. 

If the school officials do nothing, which according to the reports is not an option, the most basic renovations would cost some $40 million, according to the Facilities Options Subcommittee findings.  

Public feedback will be incorporated into the School Facilities Committee’s final report, to be presented to the CHUH School Board in July. After further work by a consultant (to be determined), another plan is to be brought to the CHUH board in March 2012.

The complete presentations from the Finance Subcommittee, Facilities Options Subcommittee and Fielding Nair International, and a video of the April 27 meeting can be found on the CHUH district site. 

Editor's Note: It is unclear how Bellefaire School, the former Coventry School site and Taylor Academy (now the Deborah S. Delisle Educational Options Center) would be affected by these plans, and are not included in the 11 building sites mentioned above. More details will be provided as they become available.