Greenon gives public first look at designs of new $50M school

Greenon Local Schools gave the public their first look at what their new $50 million kindergarten.

Summit Construction, and SHP Leading Design gave presentations about the schools progress as well as showed a 3D rendering video walk through of the new school at a school board meeting Tuesday night.

Brad Martin, senior project manager with Summit Construction, the project builder, said the company wants to have all construction completed by January 2021.

MORE: Greenon likely to start construction on $50M school next year

“When students come back to school in the fall of 2021, they will be starting in a brand new building,” Martin said. “Come August of 2021 it will be all said and done.”

Ground was broken for the school in September of 2018.

Charlie Jahnigen, SHP leading design architect, said the next step in the construction of the school is final pricing which will occur in April and early May.

“Once we have completed pricing, then we can officially begin construction,” Jahnigen said. “Final pricing can take a while because we want to make sure we are getting the best deal.”

Voters approved a $36 million bond issue to build a new pre-k through 12th-grade school by 500 votes in May 2017 toward the $54 million project. The 6.98-mil bond will cost a taxpayer who owns a $100,000 property in the district about $20 a month. The state will pick up $18 million of the costs through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

MORE: Greenon one step closer to opening new $50 million school

The new building will be constructed on the current site of the Indian Valley Intermediate School. However, Indian Valley will remain open during construction but will close once the new school opens, as will Enon Primary and Greenon High School.

The new school will be for all students in the district, but will be divided so that students of different age groups won’t intermingle.

According to floor plans, the school will be divided into three “pods.”

One pod will house the center of the building, the other is for elementary aged students in grades kindergarten through sixth and the third pod will house remaining students.

Both student sections will have their own media centers, libraries and special education classrooms. However, only the pod for high school grades will have classrooms designed for agricultural and business education.

The center of the building, or the “core” as it’s referred to in floor plans, is where students, teachers and parents will enter the building. This area will have added security.

MORE: Greenon starts planning $54M new school after bond issue passes

“We are very focused on school security,” Jahnigen said. “Security meetings have been ongoing throughout the process, we want to make sure we have a safe building.”

The core will also be where the dining area, gym and music spaces will be located.

Greenon School Board President, Dennis Henry said school officials have taken tours of other Ohio schools in order to find out what works, and what doesn’t.

For example, Henry said at one school officials visited he noticed lots of natural light.

“It really seemed like it made a difference. The kids seemed excited to be learning,” Henry said.

Henry said as the construction process continues he wants to continue being upfront about everything.

“We consider the community to be a vital part of the process of building a new school and look forward to working together to create a new facility that will be a source of pride for the entire district,” Henry said.


Facts & Figures:

2: Years until Greenon Local new school might open

$36M: Bond Greenon voters approved in 2017 for new school

$18M: Amount state will contribute to the new school

The Springfield News-Sun has provided continued coverage of the Greenon school building project, tracking developments every step of the way, including examaning the state of the current buildings, attending community forums and digging into what the new building might look like.

About the Author