The Design Team working on the Heights High Renovation Project provided Board Members with an update at the December 9 Special Meeting held at the Board of Education.
The update included a PowerPoint presentation with site and building floor plans. Discussion included:
- Parking
- Career & Technical Education (CTE)
- Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System
Below is a brief summary of the PowerPoint presentation.
Parking Spaces
There are currently 228 parking spaces at the high school. The new plan would have 229 spaces. The city of Cleveland Heights is willing to lease additional spaces off site to the District. Terms of the agreement would need to be determined.
Career & Technical Education (CTE)
The original plan called for moving all CTE programming to the new high school. This was based on recommendations from the Lay Facilities Committee that developed the District’s Master Facilities Plan. The approved program area (POR – Program of Requirements) for the Pharmacy and Clinical Health Careers programs at the new high school is less than the square foot area at Delisle that is currently dedicated to these spaces.
Also, if housed in the high school these programs would be required to share classroom space with other CTE programs. At the November 19 Special Facilities Meeting, the Board was asked if they would consider keeping some of the CTE programs at Delisle.
In response to a desire not to move into lab and classroom space with less square footage at the new high school, the latest design iteration has the Pharmacy & Clinical Health Careers Programs remaining at Delisle Options Center. Lab and Classrooms for these programs would be completely renovated. CTE administrative spaces would also be relocated to Delisle. “We won’t have to build a shell for the programs that would remain, so the dollars we’ll spend in those spaces will be spent on making improvements to make the spaces more functional,” stated Gary Balog, Lead BSHM Architect. “The Delisle Options Center is fairly close to the high school; this is an opportunity to create a stronger connection between the buildings academically and administratively.” The new plan would also make expansion of CTE programs in the future easier at both the high school and Delisle Options Center.
Also, instead of spending approximately $500,000 on a temporary Auto Tech Program at Delisle, the latest plan calls for permanently relocating the Auto Tech program to Delisle. Cosmetology would move to the high school for easier public access and the opportunity to provide services to clientele from the entire student body during the school day, which will provide more real world learning experiences.
“We’ve been listening to many voices and the ideas and suggestions from faculty, administrators and members of the community and responding. The building plan is getting better and becoming more usable because of all the input.”
The state will provide construction co-funding for up to only 4 CTE programs at the high school. Having some of the CTE programming remain at Delisle will potentially increase the amount of square footage that would be co-funded for the high school project.
Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
The HVAC Base Bid for the Central Plan will be Hybrid Geothermal.
An Alternate design could be developed for a Full Geothermal System to be bid as an Alternate Central Plant system. The design costs would amount to approximately $90,000 if the design is carried out through bidding.
Both a regular Board Meeting and a Special Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 16 at the Delisle Center. Public comments unrelated to the facilities project will be heard at the start of the regular board meeting at 6 p.m. Public comments and questions related to the School Facilities Project will be heard following the Facilities presentation later in the evening.
The Board is expected to provide direction to the Design Team in each of the areas listed above.