Community Open Houses

Master Planning Project, Community Open Houses, May 10, 17, 25th

Throughout May 2023, Aurora City Schools hosted several open house sessions for interested community members, parents, students, and educators to learn about and provide feedback on the master plan options currently being considered by the district. With aging infrastructure and growing population, as the primary considerations in the process the district has been developing facility solutions to meet the needs for the district. Over 160 people attended who learned about the process, asked questions, and provided feedback on the issues facing Aurora City Schools. Each attendee had the chance to insert their feedback in an online survey to be considered as plans develop.  

There were three separate engagements. The first centered on getting feedback from district staff. Conducted in the Aurora High School gymnasium, teachers who were familiar with challenges in the buildings reviewed plans to better understand how they would be impacted and provide their thoughts. The following two meetings, held in the conference center, gave community members, parents and students the opportunity to learn and also provide feedback.

In 2022, the district engaged with the school community and the feedback provided indicated that many would support a longer-term solution to address all buildings in the district, rather than minor additions. With this in mind, a broad plan was developed to address the high school and all other buildings, while a second one was developed to address the elementary grades. 

Currently, the scope of the two master plan options being explored by the district include:

High School Master Plan

• A new, 243,000sf 9-12 high school

• A new attached 650 seat auditorium 

• Move grades 6-8 to the existing High School and perform select renovations

• Move K-2 to Leighton and 3-5 to Harmon

• Move board offices to Miller w/ Pre-K

• Abate/Demolish Craddock ES

Elementary School Master Plan

• A new 138,000sf K-3 school

• A parking lot is relocated on the high school site to accommodate additional traffic

• Select improvements and renovations to district facilities

• Move board offices to Miller w/ Pre-K

• Abate/Demolish Craddock ES 

One of the elementary schools in the district, Craddock ES, is over 100-years old and is not only expensive to maintain but lacks the technology and space requirements to adequately serve its young students. Superintendent Mike Roberto shared that the school district uses around $350,000 from their annual budget to address facility issues. These issues are prioritized according to the greatest need. As buildings age and require more maintenance, this amount becomes insufficient to satisfy the needs of each building. New construction and renovation projects drastically reduce long-term maintenance costs and provide a better learning environment for students. Currently, the district is installing expensive modular trailers, for additional space at some of their schools. 

For Craddock Elementary, according to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, to update the school to comply with the Ohio School Design Manual and the most recent state code regulations, it would take $17,500,000 in updates. This is prohibitively expensive as a long-term solution. 

The district garnered feedback from the community on the two plans that are being explored and will continue to incorporate that feedback into the process while providing opportunities to learn more as plans develop. 

That said, if you have specific questions, feel free to submit them here.