COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus City Schools is hoping that months of work with the community will pay off soon.
For some, attending the facilities’ master plan sessions was a matter of learning and understanding what changes to school buildings and programs could mean for their students and on a larger scale.
For others, it was about mapping out their own thoughts, jotting them down and making sure architects and district officials understood their wants and desires.
Plans spread across tables gave parents and other community members a chance to talk among themselves about what they felt was most important to have or not have at schools in the district from the elementary level up through high school.
All of the sample plans were concepts developed in previous stages by local citizens.
Parents like Larissa Kopestonsky attended one of the phase six sessions.
“I do think they have to look at the programs that are successful and try and model those everywhere so that there is more equity,” Kopestonsky said.
Equity is at the top of parent Mike Barnes’ list too.
He has an eighth-grader in CCS.
“Equity … I mean if you go look it Upper Arlington High School and then you look at the buildings we’re putting our kids … that’s not equitable,” he said.
Even so, Barnes admits getting all of the things that other districts have and making sure every school has them, will cost.
For Kopestonsky, even though the plans sound good, thoughts about cost need to translate into a conversation.
“The amount of money they need to build new schools a levy would need to be passed. And without a levy passing, I don’t think any of this is going to happen. So, I think that needs to be discussed as well. Right? I mean because where’s this money coming from if we’re paying 70%?”
School board member Dr. Tina Pierce agrees.
Pierce said she knows parents will wonder at the end of the day “how much will my mortgage go up? Right. And how is that going to affect my ability to buy groceries … to buy gas?”
Still, Pierce said it’s tough in part because a number of buildings were built quickly years ago with limited classrooms and low ceilings.
So now, she said “in thinking about the very real challenge of understanding and recognizing those buildings need to be torn down and rebuilt right. You can’t put a bandaid on it anymore.”
For those that aren’t torn down, they’ll need to be renovated. For any that are consolidated, it means that it’ll be done “in such a way that we have new buildings where we have more students in those buildings, more students that are able to engage in a number of electives from arts and music and science.”
Pierce, who is a product of Columbus City Schools, said the idea is to not just have “buildings that are modern and not just a structure but also (provide) amenities, buildings that provide our students the resources meaning the furniture, the technology, to be able to learn.”
Moving through the process now, she hopes they can regain the trust of the community.
“As I think about the last FMP process when several recommendations were made and our board did not move forward with that, a lot of the community were upset by that and so they are looking to us to do something different.”
So, what comes next?
There’s one last virtual meeting Tuesday night where families, staff and students can speak up.
Once that’s over, the Facilities Master Plan Committee will review community input and make a recommendation to the board of education on building plan options.
The hope is that a plan will be approved this time in June of 2022.
