Some Parma residents are hoping Parma City School District will halt demolition of Parma Senior High School, both through a demand letter sent to the district and a petition.
The demand letter – which seeks an injunction from the city of Parma’s law director to halt the demolition – argues taxpayers’ property values will be harmed by removal of the building, while the petition asks the school district to save the wing of the building that includes the auditorium, a small theater and bell tower.
Superintendent Charles Smialek said Tuesday that the school district is moving forward with abatement inside Parma Senior High School starting July 15, with demolition to soon follow.
Parma voters have rejected four attempts by the school district to get a bond issue passed to pay for a new high school on the site of Parma Senior High School. Smialek said in May, after the schools’ last attempt failed, that the district would move forward with demolishing the current Parma Senior High School, along with an elementary school, to create about $3.1 million in savings.
The district has seen a significant decline in its enrollment, down to about 9,000 students currently from about 26,000 in the late 1960s, and also faces deficit spending by 2026 if it doesn’t get a new levy approved by voters.
The demand letter, sent to the district by Cleveland attorney Joseph W. Diemert, Jr., on behalf of local resident Michael Peters, argues that Peters and other nearby residents will see their property taxes fall with the high school leaving the area and students heading to the district’s other two high schools “much further from their homes.”
“Most importantly, the physical condition of the Parma High School, despite its age, is better than the other two high schools, and provides a more secure environment for its student body in addition to much better accessibility,” the letter reads
Smialek declined to comment Monday on the letter, citing a desire not to comment on a legal matter which could turn into litigation against the district.
He has previously said that Parma Senior High would cost the most of the district’s three high schools to renovate.
Meanwhile, the petition, which has garnered almost 3,000 signatures, asks the school district to save part of the building for historic preservation purposes. It argues the bell tower has been a landmark of Parma for 70 years, and noted the 1,550-seat auditorium has one of the largest seating capacities in northeast Ohio.
“Ohio’s very own Cleveland orchestra used to preform in the main auditorium along with several crucial and influential celebrities such as, Jay and the Americans, Vicky Lawrence, The Rat Pack, Bobby Vinton, Charro, The Lenon Sisters, and Frankie Avalon,” the petition reads.
Smialek in a statement in response to the petition said the school district respects the sentiment behind the petition.
“In fact, we also worked to acknowledge the history and character of the high school when we planned for its replacement to incorporate a red brick exterior and a clock tower that would have closely resembled the current one,” Smialek said. “Unfortunately, our residents twice rejected our ballot initiatives to fund this construction. It is simply not feasible to leave standing one section of a school without investing millions of dollars into recreating supporting infrastructure such as plumbing, electricity, and heating systems that exist in other segments of the building.”
Smialek concluded by saying the district is preserving “many artifacts” from the high school to honor the legacy of the building.
