The Boardman Local School administration and the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission rolled out a $51 million plan to eliminate two elementary schools, West Blvd. and Market St., and build a school for all of the system’s fourth, fifth and sixth grade students, at a “Strategic Planning/Visioning” meeting held last week at Center Middle School.
      About 30 persons attended the meeting, mostly school officials and teachers.
      The plan included $14.1 million in renovations to Robinwood Lane Elementary School, and $13 million in renovations to Stadium Dr. Elementary Schools.
      Under the proposal, the two elementary schools would serve pre-kindergarten through third grade students.
      Fourth, fifth and six grade students would be housed in a new building on what local school officials call the “High School Campus.” Cost of the new building for those students was estimated at some $26.272 million, including demolition and asbestos abatement of the current Center Middle School that would cost some $1.38 million.
      Under guidelines of the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, the Boardman Local School District’s taxpayers would have to pay 81 per cent of the $51 million in construction costs, while state aid would provide 19 per cent of the funding, or just $9.683 million.
      Funding for the local share of the cost of the project could come from a 28-year bond levy that could approximate less than two mills, Superintendent Frank Lazzeri said.
      The additional millage would add about $45 a year on tax duplicates per $100,000 valuation on property tax duplicates, Lazzeri said.
      “The Boardman Local School District is currently eligible for 19 per cent state aid for this project, according to the state’s planning standards,” Robert McAuliffe Jr., senior project manager for Hammond Construction, said.
      McAuliffe said that he and Lazzeri had also discussed the possibility of moving school board and administrative offices to Boardman High School.
      McAuliffe said that Market St. and West Blvd. Elementary School, as well as Center Middle School are “inefficient.”
      He said that state planning standards for the construction of a school building for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students would not allow for an auditorium, and suggested combining an auditorium and cafeteria into one ‘cafetorium.’
      McAuliffe laid out a timeline for funding and construction, including a ballot issue in Nov., 2017; a design phase, from Feb., 2018 to Feb., 2019; and a construction phase, from Mar., 2019 to Dec., 2020.
      Lazzeri suggested “it will be cheaper to run fewer buildings. We have to look at economics and efficiencies.”
      According to McAuliffe and Lazzeri, there are at least three risks to moving forward, including enrollment changes, cost changes and changes in the law.
      “If we upgrade out facilities, we feel we could bring students back to our school system,” Lazzeri said, noting the system had lost about 80 students to the South Range Local Schools that opened a new elementary through high school campus two years ago.
      Lazzeri also noted students have left the local district for charter schools, suggesting the impact of charter schools should be projected “ten years into the future.”
      Not all Boardman Local School Board members are aware of the $51 million plan, though some school officials suggest PTA units have already been informed of the capital improvement proposals.
      It was just two months ago the Boardman Local School Board approved a plan to realign its middle schools.
      For the 2016-17 school year, all fifth and sixth grade students will attend Center Middle School, and all seventh and eighth grade students will attend Glenwood Middle School.
      That alignment will change by 2021, if the proposal made last week gains school board and voter approval.