Avon's board of education and supporters of the $32 million bond issue to build a new middle school aren't reaching all the voters, said some who attended Monday's forum on the bond issue and the renewal levy that are on the March 6 ballot.

Gregory Levan, an Avenbury Lakes resident, said there needed to be more in-person outreach to older residents.

"They need to have the facts and numbers right there in front of them," he said, urging board members and levy supporters to set up a forum in his development to talk with residents. "The biggest problem the school board and the district have is communicating with all the residents."

Treasurer Kent Zeman and board member Heather Mahoney agreed that would be a good idea, as well as connecting with the Avon Senior Center.

The forum was held in the media center at Avon Middle School.

Bob Barnhardt, a former superintendent, said figures pertaining to building capacity and student population provided by the Avon Avenues district newsletter were "misleading." He asked if alternatives to building a new school, such as adding onto the existing middle school, were considered.

Mike Laub, who was part of the Continuous Improvement Plan committee that recommended building a new middle school, said that building additions and renovations at the existing middle school would cost 87 percent of what it would cost to build a new school.

Barnhardt added that his concern was that the district was overbuilding, something he said Avon Lake did in the 1980s and 1990s.

"It's difficult to predict potential growth exactly," Laub said. "What we did was come up with a plan for a facility that would give us the ability to grow if we need it. But we don't want to build and then go back to voters a few years later and ask for more money for an addition."

Zeman said that a new middle school was a district-wide solution and not just about the middle school.

"It's a decision based on what's best in the long run," he said.

If a new middle school is built, it would be for students in grades six through eight. Moving the sixth-grade students to the new middle school would ease crowding at Heritage North and Heritage South elementary schools, Zeman said.

Heritage South principal Jason Call added that the growing student population has cost his school all of its science lab space and all but one computer lab because the space is needed for regular classrooms.

Zeman said the students at Village Elementary could be moved to the single-story middle school.

Barnhardt said he was not thrilled with the prospect of "mothballing" Village while spending $32 million to build a new school.

When it comes to the renewal operating levy, which is two expiring levies rolled into one for $2.5 million at 3.21 mills, Barnhardt said he opposed the plan to make the renewal for 10 years rather than five, saying it denied voters the flexibility to adjust school spending.

Zeman said that combining and lengthening levies would reduce what he called "voter fatigue" from seeing levies on the ballot every year.

"Even when we point out that they are renewals and not new money, people still think we're asking for more money," Zeman said.

The next forum will be on Feb. 22.