Freezing rooms when the boiler breaks.
Water leaking through classroom ceilings.
Asbestos in the walls.
Teachers and advocates for North High School say it’s past time for the building to be replaced, which could happen if voters approve a levy in November.
The building, the oldest parts of which are almost a century old, is the only high school at Akron Public Schools to not have been renovated under the school district’s last levy-funded capital campaign that spanned the last two decades.
The building’s various structural issues have been a headache for staff and students for a long time, said Bruce Brown, who’s taught at the building since 1994.
“I have a very fond memory of one day, the assistant principal would come in and talk about my evaluation, and I'm busy pulling the stuff out of my closet that's getting soaked because the roof had started leaking,” Brown said. “And that was many, many years ago. The teacher that's in that room right now, she has similar issues there. We call it a water feature.”
Tara Mosley Weems, former council member for Ward 5, which previously included parts of Akron's North Hill neighborhood before redistricting in 2022, recently penned an op-ed in favor of the levy. This part of Akron has seen a significant influx of immigrants and refugees in recent years, swelling the enrollment at North High School, she noted.
“Seeing that they have the fastest growing population in the city of Akron and the county is Summit, it's only right to rebuild North High School,” she argued. “I think it would do a disservice to that community, and to those children, to bus them all over the city when we all know most of the North Hill community around is our immigrant population. And so I think that busing them is not going to be helpful to the parents or to the students who are just really learning the language, learning how to navigate this city.”
Persistent issues with heating and cooling in the building also make it harder for students to learn, said Georgia Flores, who’s taught at North for 30 years and herself went to the school when she was a kid.
“You can never have a comfortable temperature,” she said. “It's either too hot or too cold. It's never comfortable in our rooms. When it's too hot, the kids are sleepy. And when it's too cold, they're just not comfortable.
An older building also means issues with technology, Brown and Flores said. There’s not enough outlets in the room to power students’ computers when they need them, and the elevators often don’t work, Brown said. Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi is often spotty.
“A lot of our standardized tests are on Wi-Fi, and it cuts out in the middle of a test and kicks kids out,” Flores said.
There are also safety concerns around mold and other hazardous materials in the building. Flores said the district has asked teachers not to nail anything to the walls for fear of asbestos in the structure.
Brown asked Akron residents to vote for the levy to support the students and staff at the school.
“I know everyone is stretched thin, but for a few dollars, you can provide an equitable education for students who are going to be working and providing for the Akron community,” he said.
The levy would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 a little more than $300 per year.
The levy has two sections on the ballot but only requires one vote: one portion, 1.29 mills for a 37-year period, would fund an $85 million building to replace North. The second portion calls for a 7.6-mill, permanent levy that would fund district operations.
