School Board Seeks More Public Input Into Lay Facilities Plan

The Cleveland Heights - University Heights School Board is giving the public one more chance to provide comments on the Lay Facilities Plan before they make a final decision.

Board members want residents to come to the June 4 regular meeting and speak their mind on the $234 million plan to modernize the school district's aging buildings and bring its facilities in line with its student population.

The project would involve closing some schools and remodeling others, and would require voters to approve a capital improvement levy this fall to bring in about $138 million.

The school board received the final report from the facilities committee earlier this month, and now have to decide what to do by July in order to get the levy on the ballot.

A Big Decision

The board spent most of Tuesday discussing ways to make the millage of the levy as low as possible. The original plan was to ask the voters to approve 6.46 mills, which comes to about $198 in annual property taxes for every $100,000 of tax value.

Board President Ron Register said he wants to have the plan before the board on first reading on July 2.

School Board Vice President Nancy Peppler suggested holding an extended public comment during the next board meeting to collect more feedback on the plan.

Peppler said that while the facilities discussion has been ongoing and residents have had many chances to comment on the plan, many residents are just engaging with the ideas now.

The board needs to be open to hearing their views, she said.

The committee's recommendation

The committee's recommendation calls for closing Noble and Fairfax elementary schools and Wiley Middle School.

Boulevard Elementary School would be rebuilt. The four remaining elementary schools, the two remaining middle schools and the high school would be renovated.

Click here to see the committee's report.

According to the committee report, the $234.4 million project would take place in two phases: Phase 1 would include the high school and middle school renovations, and Phase 2 — beginning years in the future — would include the elementary school renovations.