The Kenmore neighborhood on Akron's southwest side will get a new school facility for the first time in at least two decades following a vote by the Board of Education Monday night.
However, due to a tough financial outlook, that win for Kenmore residents - who have lobbied the board for a new school to boost neighborhood vitality that had been lost over years of school closures - comes at a cost for students and staff at North High School on Akron's north side. Students, parents and other advocates have raised concerns about poor building conditions at North in recent months as well, lobbying the board not to force them to wait for a building replacement.
The board's current plan is to wait to get a 1.75-mill bond issue approved by voters to pay for construction of an estimated $83.5 million building to replace North High School. In the meantime, North will need $20 million in fixes to keep it going over the next few years, with the hope of constructing the new replacement by August 2028.
The Kenmore kindergarten-through-eighth grade building - to be located on the site of the old Kenmore High School building - will host students from Pfeiffer Elementary in Kenmore as well students from the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, currently located in the adjacent Sherbondy Hill neighborhood. Staff and teachers told the board the Miller South building was also in desperate need of replacement.
The board voted 4 to 1, with one abstention and one member absent, to approve the facilities plan, which also includes the following elements:
- Closing Firestone Park Elementary and Pfeiffer Elementary, as well as Miller South, the Ott Building, a former administrative building, and Stewart and Essex preschools, to create about $2 million in savings per-year
- Relocating the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School to another building, either on the University of Akron's campus or as an addition to Garfield Community Learning Center with the board likely to revisit this matter in the future
- Open new preschool programs in several other to-be-determined buildings
- Build a new athletic facility, likely at or near the site of Garfield Community Learning Center, requiring donations or other sources of funding, including a potential partnership with the city.
Board Chair Derrick Hall said the school board faced a difficult decision where there were winners and losers on both sides; advocates had asked the board not to tie construction of a new North High School to passage of a levy, citing concerns with it not passing.
"No victory was achieved tonight," he said. "It was just moving one heavy rock and knowing that there are multiple more heavy rocks that we're going to have to move as we continue the work of moving this district forward."
Board member Valerie McKitrick said the Kenmore option was cheaper than doing the North High School option first, and took care of three school buildings - Miller South, Pfeiffer and "blighted" old Kenmore high School building.
"In my brain that's the only option because it gives us so much bang for our buck," she said.
Board member Diana Autry noted that students at North High School are some of the most "marginalized" in the school district, with many students in Akron's north cluster of buildings being refugees and recent immigrants. She ultimately voted against the Kenmore-first option.
Stephen Thompson, the district's chief financial officer, noted that construction costs have been increasing significantly in recent years, so the district needs to move forward quickly on its facilities plans, including repairs at North High School.
Tina Boyes, a fifth-generation Kenmore resident, urged the board to pursue a new building in Kenmore during the public comment period Monday night. She noted the community has seen significant issues with the buildings closed in the neighborhood, including families leaving.
At the abandoned Smith Elementary School, she said families see "broken windows, a playground overgrown with weeds, maggot-laden trash strung up the sidewalk and the ammunition shells from the occasional shootout, which never used to happen before the school was vacant."
The district hopes to construct the new Kenmore school building by fall 2026.
Hall said the district is facing an additional challenge due to a state law, which requires that school buildings under 60% enrollment be made available for sale to charter schools. He said the district might need to consider ending its open enrollment policy, which currently means its best-performing schools have too many applicants compared to the number of seats they have and are sometimes over capacity, while other schools are less than half-full.
Also during its meeting, the Board of Education voted to approve a contract for new Superintendent C. Michael Robinson Jr. He will earn $240,000 in base salary each year. His first official day on the job will be August 1, although the board voted to start him on a temporary basis beginning this month to start learning the job.
