ACSD Bond Issue Update: Infrastructure - 8/12/2024

In his August update, Aurora City Schools Superintendent, Mike Roberto focuses on providing more information on the November bond issue for the construction of a new high school.

Transcript of the 8/12/2024 Update:

As you travel to the polls this November, you will see a bond issue from the Aurora City School District (ACSD) on the ballot.  In order to better inform the community, we will be sharing a series of ACSD Bond Issue Updates focused on various topics.  This update will focus on Infrastructure, but other topics such as finances, enrollment, high school construction, and traffic will be covered in the future.  

AHS Rendering

As a quick reminder, the 7.57 mil bond issue is for the proposed construction of a new high school, reprogramming and updating of the other school buildings in the district, and the closing of Craddock Elementary School.  The goal of the bond issue is to address aging buildings and capacity concerns in the school district.  The Master Facilities Plan for the Bond Issue, which can be found on the ACSD District’s website (www.aurora-schools.org), includes the construction of a new high school in the large field between the current high school and Harmon Middle School that will house grades 9-12.  

Campus Overview

The current high school will then be used to house the middle school students (grades 6-8) and the Board of Education Offices which are currently located in Craddock Elementary.  Grades 3-5 will be relocated from the Leighton Intermediate School building to the current Harmon Middle School building which allows the students in grades 1 and 2 to move to Leighton.  By moving these students, Craddock Elementary, which is over one hundred years old, would be able to be closed.  Miller Elementary will be turned into a kindergarten only building once the preschool, currently located at Miller, moves over to the extra space in Leighton. Each of these moves allows the district to address current capacity concerns as highlighted by the recent procurement of trailers to house students for Miller and Leighton along with the need to reduce the Craddock Library by 50% of its size to create an extra classroom due to growth.

Why Craddock

Approximately $17 million dollars from the bond issue will be used to renovate and reprogram Miller Elementary, Leighton Intermediate, Harmon Middle School, and the current high school.  Details of these renovations can also be found under the Master Facility Plan located on the ACSD Website.  The district’s plan does not include renovating Craddock Elementary.  To comply with the Ohio School Design Manual, and the most recent state code regulations, renovations of Craddock School would require $20,890,124.60. The State of Ohio recommends completely replacing a school when its renovation costs exceed 66% of the cost of building a new school of the same size. Currently, Craddock Elementary is over 85% of this percentage.

Roofs

Over the years, Craddock has had a number of roof repairs including patching and replacements, but time is starting to take a toll on the building.  Standing water and flat roofs make for a bad combination even with repairs. 

HVAC

Craddock’s original design did not include air conditioning, so the portable air conditioning units put in place in the early 2000’s are starting to need to be replaced as well.

Craddock’s Boiler

Heating the building has also been a challenge recently which you can see as we travel to the bottom floor of Craddock and into the boiler room.  One of two boilers died over the winter and was replaced for a little over $100,000 over the summer.  If we take a few more steps to the other side of the boiler room you can see a brand new water heater system that needed to be replaced around the same time the boiler died.  The good news is this water heating system can be transferred to another building if the bond issue passes. 

Heating System

On the other side of the hall and work our way to the back corner of the basement you can see we have also been replacing the original lines that were corroding with new lines.  Some of the heating systems are repairable and where able we have been making updates.

Heating Slides

In other areas of Craddock such as some of our classrooms the heating systems are original and no longer have parts available to be fixed and so are difficult to repair or sometimes must be replaced.

Miller Reading Room

Moving over to Miller you can see that there is a need for storage as there are a number of items in the hallways.  Part of the reason for the lack of storage is the need for more classroom space in the building.  This is one of the areas we are targeting for renovations.  It is a storage room which is currently being used as a classroom.  The plan is to upgrade the walls and add soundproofing to create a better learning environment.  

Miller Staff Room/Counseling Office

We are also looking to convert the current staff lunch area at Miller, which as you can see in this video, is too small for our current Miller Staff of 40+ employees into an office for the School Counselor as she is currently without a permanent home.  

Here are all the areas at Miller we intend to target.  This includes

Miller Elementary (K-only building)  

• Creation of Speech & Reading Specialists room through conversion of two storage areas.

• Create a sensory room off the stage area & renovate the storage area

• Relocation of the library back into the school and allocate a portion of the original library to create a staff lunch/work area.

• Conversion of the former small lunch area to an office for the school counselor

• Expand playground area

• Update windows & select doors

• Repaving parking lot and portions of Greenmen Way

The reprogramming at Leighton will focus on converting the 3rd grade wing of the building into a preschool wing including the addition of a preschool-size playground. The renovations also include…

Leighton Elementary (PreK, Grades 1 & 2 building)  

• Addition of PreK size common restrooms in the east hallway

• Removal of lockers in the east hallway and replace with “cubbies”

• Convert the Science Lab into a typical classroom and storage area

• Conversion of bookroom area (current small classroom) to staff lunch/work area.

• Adaptation of band room into OT/PT service room

• New PreK playground on the north side of the east wing (current trailer location)

• Replacement of Chiller & Boiler

• Repaving parking lot and portions of Greenmen Way

…which are hitting their 25 year life expectancy this year.

I suspect many community members do not know that when Harmon was first built in the early 70s, it was an open-concept school with little to no walls.  It wasn’t long before temporary walls were put in Harmon to create a number of typical classrooms.  

Typical Classroom

However, a typical classroom at Harmon is not typical compared to other schools.  First, the interior classrooms do not have locks so I can enter this room without an issue.  The walls are metallic, thin, and sometimes even flexible and some of the interior classrooms do not have windows at all.  

Harmon Hallway

Other classrooms have large panes of glass for walls which will need to be replaced along with the grid to the ceiling tiles once new walls are installed.  We also will be updating the restrooms in the building which have the original fixtures that are hard to repair due to hard to find hardware.  In addition, we intend to relocate the Choir room, shown in the bottom right corner of this slide to a more acoustically friendly room.

The cost of reprogramming Harmon includes other interior upgrades such as…

Harmon Intermediate (Grades 3-5 building)    

• Removal of temporary walls in the center of the building and replacing them with solid permanent walls in a revised configuration.

• Reconfigure Library which will also add three total rooms

• Update original restrooms

• Relocate the Choir Room and improvements to the room's acoustics 

• Conversion of locker rooms to storage areas

• Conversion of industrial arts area into multipurpose room and classroom

• Relocation of water line to Harmon

• Potential installation  of turf field(s)

• Repaving parking lot and portions of Greenmen Way

As mentioned earlier, the current high school building would house the middle school students as well as the Aurora Board of Education office.    We are also planning to make…

Aurora Middle School (Grades 6-8 building)   

• Install new Board of Education entrances

• Restore staff lunch/workroom 

• Convert smaller Art Room to Maker Space

• Renovations to the Auditorium to create “Aurora Theater”

• Conversion of an old science room to a classroom

• Install asphalt community walking paths around the campus

• Repaving parking lot and portions of Greenmen Way

…for both the students and community to better access the Greenmen Campus.

Campus Infrastructure

Funds for the bond issue will also be allocated to repair parking lots and Greenmen Way, the road running through the Aurora Campus.  There will also be several new amenities both the school district and Aurora community as a whole will be able to access including two new turf fields for fall and spring activities which can be used for city recreation teams (football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse). The new high school will contain two new large gymnasiums, for city and district use for teams during the winter and spring. Additionally, a new Performing Arts Center and Theater (the existing auditorium) will allow for more involvement from the community and greater attendance at events. The theater can be used during the summer months for dance programs. The existing weight room is being renovated into a multi-purpose room for the school and community use, while outdoor walking paths are being added throughout the campus for easier access for students and daily community use. 

Community Info Nights

The district has scheduled multiple community informational nights concerning the bond issue that will contain factual and neutral information to help you understand the bond issue and provide a question-and-answer period after the short presentation. Each of these informational nights will run from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and take place at the ACSD Conference Center located at 119 W. Pioneer Trail.

Bond Issue Community Information Nights

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Wednesday, October 2, 2204

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

This bond issue is a culmination of three years of planning and research completed by the school district.  As stated earlier, the goal of the bond issue is to address aging buildings and capacity concerns in the Aurora City School District.  For more information concerning the bond issue, please visit our district website at www.aurora-schools.org or stop in at one of the Bond Issue Community Information Nights mentioned.