AVON LAKE, Ohio—The Avon Lake City Schools district is looking to enter into an agreement with design firm Fanning Howey for various upgrades to its schools. The architect had earlier performed work at the district’s Avon Lake High School.

According to the Chronicle of Elyria, the district is looking specifically at updating buildings at Learwood Middle School as well as several of the elementary schools under its purview. The district’s enrollment continues to increase, necessitating updating its various buildings. One of those upgrades is installing air conditioning units, which are needed during the stifling summer months encompassing the end of one school year and the commencement of the next.

According to the Chronicle, the district superintendent, Bob Scott, also pointed to other necessary projects including replacement of older boilers and reinforcing several roofs that have been exposed to weather.

Any plan conjured by Fanning Howey will need to go before the local board of education, who will then have to decide how said improvements to the school district would be funded. Meanwhile, a facilities planning committee has been meeting on several occasions to work with the architects on potential refurbishments district-wide, the Chronicle reported

Fanning Howey’s other education-related projects in the Buckeye State include Parkside Elementary and Riverview Elementary, which were the first schools in the state to achieve LEED version 4.0 certification.

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In November, voters passed Issue 23, a 3.86-mill, 35-year bond issue that will be used to construct five new facilities for the district. The project will require approximately $140 million in state and local funding (67 percent of which will come from the state).

Expected to break ground next year, the project’s master plan will reduce the district’s footprint from 11 schools to five — specifically seven elementary schools and three middle schools into five buildings — and includes constructing a new football stadium. The project includes one PreK-8 school at the Pioneer Field site, one K-8 school on the site of the existing Eastern Heights Middle School, one K-8 school on the site of the existing Crestwood Elementary School, one K-4 school on the site of the existing Ely Elementary School and one K-4 school at the existing Hamilton Elementary School, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.

Bringing multiple grade levels together at central locations allows for the younger students to learn from their older peers. Plus, it helps the district save on costs, as less schools will require less heating, water, cooling and building systems, Superintendent Paul Rigda told The Chronicle-Telegram last March. The school district determined how much space it needed based on enrollment projections that project a district-wide study body of approximately 5,485 PreK-12 students by the year 2025.

Another highlight for the project is the $13.5 million sports complex, which will be completed in phases at the existing Elyria High School. Included in Phase 1 is the new stadium, which will include an all-weather polyurethane track, a new main entry gate and plaza, upgraded home and visitor bleachers and a field house for locker rooms, a weight/fitness room and trainer’s room.

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