Facilities

Facility Master Plan & Capital Improvements

Thanks to voter approval of funds to address identified facility needs across the district, school officials were able to begin completing necessary projects identified in a Five-Year Facilities Master Plan. This work is in addition to the completion of other planned facility renovations and necessary annual maintenance projects paid for with permanent Capital Improvements funding.

During the summer of 2022, the district completed over $4 million in building component replacements and building improvements. Ninety-five percent of the work is in four building component categories: 45% for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning replacements; 22% for Site Improvements; 21% for Roofing Replacements; and 7% for Office Reconfigurations. This most recent project list is typical of the work completed over every summer to keep our buildings in good shape structurally and mechanically, while protecting our community’s investment in its schools. 

With voter approval of bond funds in November 2019, district officials were also able to begin addressing critical facility needs identified in a Five Year Facilities Master Plan (FMP). The highlight of the plan is the construction of Minerva France Elementary School (opened August 2022) and Minerva Park Middle School (opening August 2023) in the southern end of the district. In addition to balancing enrollments at other schools and creating space for anticipated enrollment growth, these new facilities allow more students across the district to attend a school closer to their home. Other schools receiving significant renovations and additions as part of the FMP include Annehurst Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, Whittier Elementary, and Westerville South High School. The plan also allowed safety and security upgrades at all schools, as well as facility needs at three of our three historic schools, Emerson, Hanby and Longfellow. 

The district’s facilities projects regularly earn national honors for their innovative designs. We fully anticipate that current projects will receive such accolades as well. Perhaps most importantly, the district also enjoys a history of projects being completed on time and within budget. While the pandemic wreaked havoc on the world’s supply chain, which negatively impacted the cost and availability of construction materials, all FMP projects that have been completed or are in the process of being completed remain on schedule and within the overall FMP budget.