Buckeye in "visioning" phase of new high school project

YORK TWP. — Buckeye students, staff and community members are working together to develop a vision for the new Buckeye High School as part of the design stage of the project. Superintendent Jeff Stanton gave a facilities update during the school board meeting Tuesday. The district will build a new high school at the corner of Wolff Road and Columbia Road and will renovate the existing high school into a middle school, Stanton said. The renovated building will operate as a junior high school for grades seven and eight for its first year in the 2029-30 school year. "The following year, in the 2030-31 school year, we will move the sixth graders to this building from the elementary school," he said. "That will allow us, we are hoping, to expand our preschool opportunities for students in that (elementary school) building." A visioning session was held for the new high school on Jan. 29, in which 50 to 60 people involved with the district laid out the vision from a physical, instructional and course-offering perspective. Stanton said curriculum has to drive the school's design. "It's really heavy work, I would say, but great and rewarding work," he said. "There are no drawings or renderings of any building at this point. We are visioning, and we will get there." The following were reoccurring themes from the first visioning session: Adaptability. Comfort. Community identity. Engaging and exciting curriculum. Flexibility. Inclusion for all students. Preparation for life outside of school. Safety and security. Social-well being. Spaces for collaboration. "My confidence level in terms of what this new high school will look like is very high because of the students and staff who were in on those visioning sessions," board member Seth Kujat said. "They really do know what direction we need to go in from a curriculum perspective." Buckeye will soon hold another visioning session, Stanton said. The district also plans to do a similar activity at a later date for the new middle school. The project is in its visioning and design stage from now until spring 2027, Stanton said. Construction is slated to occur from spring 2027 to spring 2029. The current junior high school is anticipated to be demolished later in 2029. "It's very important to us that, when this building is open, that all three of our townships have an aspect of this new building," he said. "It is very important, so we are going to continue to engage with our community, and engage with our students and clearly our staff as we go through this project." The board of education also approved the following for the construction project during Tuesday's meeting: A contract with C.T. Taylor for pre-construction services. An agreement with GPD Architects to perform design services for the project. An agreement with Brewer-Garrett Company to perform commissioning, testing and balancing services for the new Buckeye High School. An agreement with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to partner with the district through the Expedited Local Partnership Program, which will allow the district to receive a 19 percent credit from the state some time after Buckeye finishes its master facilities plan. "I just got elected by the community," board member Kim Cecelich said. "I'm a voice of the community. We voted down a new school three times, and this was not what our community wanted. From now on, anything that you have to do with the school, I'll be voting no." Board member Roy Salazar said, in his opinion, the current plan for facilities is "fundamentally different" from the previous plans. Cecelich said she disagreed with his statement. "I think we need to be clear on what was going on in the community. It was an increase in taxes for 20 to 25 years," Salazar said. "What we are doing is executing a smaller, efficient version of that plan. The current plan does not put an additional burden on the taxpayers." The district's facilities plan is intended to be self-funded using cash reserves, capital fund allocations and a certificate of participation loan. For more information on facilities in the district, visit tinyurl.com/5vv64tyr. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.