News

CH-UH Master Facilities Planning Meeting #3

February 9, 2012
Cleveland Heights, OH

Have your say! Help us reimagine our school buildings for the future.

For the past two years, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District has been speaking with the community about our facilities. This deliberate planning process began with the April 2010 Ohio School Facilities Report and then moved on to a Citizen’s Facilities Committee in June 2010.

After carefully reviewing and analyzing the report and current facilities for nearly a year, the Citizen’s Facilities Committee validated the OSFC report and found:

  • Classrooms are undersized compared to current standards
  • Facility electrical and ventilation systems are inadequate
  • Facilities are not equipped with an automated fire suppression system
  • Some buildings are reported to contain asbestos and other hazardous materials
  • Many buildings are not compliant with ADA accessibility requirements
  • Too much square footage for our student population
  • Current space is inefficient, outdated, and hurts educational quality

It was clear from the State of Ohio, and our own Citizens, that we cannot afford to continue as things are.  Our facilities are just too expensive, and so outdated that they are hurting education. 

A team of experts was retained to put together a comprehensive plan for our facilities, led by the internationally renowned architectural teams Fielding Nair and studio TECHNE.  So far, the planning process has been informed by two community information gathering meetings, a meeting with the members of each school building’s Pathway design teams, community-sponsored coffees, and information posted on the school facilities blog, as well as emails and letters from community.

The information gathering phase of the process has been completed. Now it’s time to construct a real plan for our schools and our community. 

At the third Community Meeting to be held on February 22 (Cleveland Heights High Social Room from 6:30-8:30 p.m.) , in addition to a student video project around CH-UH facilities, residents will see proposals that have been developed as a first effort to provide a comprehensive response to educational and community needs and interests.

In constructing the facilities plan, input will be gathered and considered from responses at the community meetings, a statistically accurate community survey, and the additional avenues for community input such as blogs, email, and written responses.

The facilities team will utilize all of this feedback to shape the second draft of the facilities plan scheduled to be completed and presented to the community on March 21 in the Cleveland Heights High Social Room from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Article in Education Week: "Out of the Box: Ending the Tyranny of the Self-Contained Classroom"