Seventh Meeting of the Quaker Spirit Facilities Improvement Committee

As the master planning process nears its completion, the New Philadelphia Facilities Improvement Committee met to discuss potential Locally Funded Initiatives (LFI’s) for their overall plan. LFI’s are additional elements above and beyond school base plans that enhance the overall plan. They can be associated with either the new PreK-6 or the 7-12 school and these additional elements may be important to the district’s long term plan.

Currently, New Philadelphia CSD is not eligible for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission’s (OFCC’s) CFAP program, and would need to fund this school facility project without immediate state-aid. However, the district has entered the OFCC’s ELPP program, which makes them eligible for receiving a future credit of 56% of all co-funded spaces in the base plan.

Any number of LFI’s can be added to the master plan, but are not considered “co-funded” elements as the district pursues state aid.

Examples of LFI’s include auditoriums, additional gymnasiums, material upgrades to the schools, land acquisition, building additional square footage in the buildings that go above and beyond what is accounted for in enrollment projections, or building additional budget contingency to support the project.

This session was devoted to discussing which LFI’s the committee felt were the most important to the future of the district and its facility plans.

After an overview of LFI options, the committee divided into groups to discuss their preferences and how they could be used in the future. When considering these additions, members were encouraged to consider the long term impact these components could have on the district’s overall master plan. This generated conversations on how these elements would benefit current and future students as well as the community.

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While many of the groups had differing opinions on which LFI’s were most important, several main themes emerged.

When a new 7-12 school is constructed and the old school is demolished, explore the possibility of keeping its existing gymnasium and music rooms for potential school or community use.

If a new elementary school is built on the existing South site, include road improvements to ease potential traffic load on that site.
An auditorium that would be included in the new 7-12 school, when it is constructed in Phase 2.
Continue exploring land acquisition options for a new 7-12 school for the potential Phase 2 of this project.
Explore the possibility of moving administrative offices to the Quaker Dome, while demolishing the Front Street building to better consolidate district facilities.

Final decisions haven’t been made yet on the included LFI’s but this forms a foundation to consider as the master plan continues to be developed.

Several additional meetings are scheduled in March and April to finalize these decisions. As the group narrows in on the plan, we still want to hear your feedback and look forward to seeing you in March!