Your Schools Newsletter - February 2023

Below is an excerpt from the February edition of ACSD's, Your Schools Newsletter 

by Superintendent Mike Roberto.

In the last edition of Your Schools I shared that the Aurora City School District is one of only 12 school districts in Ohio, out of over 600, that earned a perfect score of five stars in all five categories on the Ohio Department of Education State Report Card.  This rating indicated that the district significantly exceeded state expectations in each of the categories measured.  However, the practices we put in place are not a result of focusing on outcomes such as good test scores and five star rankings.  The five star rankings are a natural byproduct of the philosophy, practices, and pedagogy that are in place.  Our goal as educators is not to raise test scores, but to help raise human beings.  That is the narrative we would like you to take away from this report card…a narrative of Aurora Learners who are Future Ready.  We believe the families and community of Aurora buy into this narrative. They do support the district, but to be honest I believe folks outside the district recognize the value of Aurora Schools as well. Aurora seems to be a popular place lately and this leads me to the main topic of this article, Potential New Construction.

Potential New Construction

On Monday January 23, 2023 we recommended ThenDesign Architecture or tda, an architectural firm based in Willoughby, to be approved by the Aurora Board of Education to take the lead on researching potential new school construction in the Aurora City Schools.   The Board unanimously approved the hiring of tda.

The need to look into potential new construction is two fold. The first is a side effect of a strong state report card and a near perfect Special Education Profile.  That is to say, young families want to bring their children to Aurora because of the strong school system.  The second is centered around the fact that there is now more available housing for families to move into the district.  Expansions in existing developments such as Hawthorn along with several additional new developments throughout the city have made Aurora a destination district for families with children.  As an example, since the end of May, we have had 46 new students move into the district.  It appears to be the beginning of enrollment growth similar to the late 1990s which led to the construction of Leighton Intermediate School in 2001.  

As a reminder, we began our own research into potential new construction in March 2022 with staff and family surveys followed by staff and community meetings in September 2022.  There was overwhelming support to look into the possibility of new construction with the goal of replacing Craddock, which was built in 1911, with either a kindergarten through third grade elementary school or a 9-12 high school.  Construction of a 9-12 high school would precipitate a rearrangement of each building as well.  For example, grades 6-8 would move to the current high school building if a new high school was built.  

As mentioned earlier, the Aurora Board of Education approved tda, a company that has worked with over 120 school districts in Ohio over the last 70 years, to take the next year to dive into the details for an educational master plan.   These plans will include feasibility studies and facility assessments that could lead to pre-bond assistance and architectural design and construction services. 

We have tentatively targeted April or May as the months that the general size, scope, and cost along with a 30,000 ft graphic view of the buildings will be shared with staff, families, and the Aurora Community as a whole.  During these meetings we will be collecting feedback and suggestions which will then be reviewed and shared with the Aurora Board of Education.  The goal will be to have a recommendation of a K-3 elementary or a 9-12 high school building to the Board by the May or June Board meeting.  

Although we are in the early stages of a long process, we are excited for the journey.  Over the next year we, along with TDA, will be holding meetings and completing research to determine if the community is willing to support construction of a new school and if so, what type of school would best fit within our district.  Please be sure to keep an eye out for those community meetings coming up in the late spring or early summer.  In the meantime, thank you for your continued support and partnership as we all work to nurture the competencies (critical thinking, collaboration, empathy, resilience, balance, and being innovative) within our strategic vision, that will lead to young people in our schools becoming Aurora Learners who are Future Ready.  

Go Greenmen!

Mike