Levy Support Committee Readying for Home Stretch

Members of Support Avon Schools, the levy support committee, are getting ready for the last weeks before the March 6 primary, where two school-related votes are on the agenda.

• Issue 11 is the 32-year, $32 million, 2.25 mill bond issue to build a new Avon Middle School. The bond issue would cost homeowners an additional $38.29 per year for every $100,000 in home valuation.
• Issue 12 is a 10-year, $2.5 million, 3.21 mill levy that combines two expiring operating levies into one. As these are two existing levies, there would be no increase in costs to homeowners.

Members met this week to talk about what they're doing to support the passage of both issues.

Signs have been delivered and will be distributed over the next several days, said school board member Scott Radcliffe.

Mailings, along with the Avon Avenues district newsletter, will be going out to residents in the weeks leading up to the election.

Many of the estimated 120 members of the levy support committee have been attending school events and parent meetings to talk up support for both issues.

A public forum to discuss and answer questions about both issues is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the middle school.

"I really hope people show up," Radcliffe said.

Avon Middle School principal Dr. Craig Koehler said simply adding onto the existing school doesn't make good long-range sense.

"We're still dealing with a building that's almost 60 years old," he said. The cafeteria, bathrooms and electrical system would still be inadequate even with added classroom space, he added.

To meet the code required by the Ohio School Facilities Commission, Radcliffe said, the district would have to add about 38,000 square feet of space just to accommodate the seventh and eighth grades.

And that doesn't address the issue of growth creating crowding at Heritage North and Heritage South elementary schools, Radcliffe said. To add onto the existing middle school enough to bring up the sixth graders would require an addition of close to 90,000 square feet.

Additions would also create problems for parking, Koehler said, especially for Avon High football games at Avon Stadium behind the middle school.

"In 20 years, we'll have two buildings that are at least 80 years old, this and Village," Radcliffe said. "That's near the end of a school building's lifespan.  Building a middle school now makes sense in the long run."

Radcliffe urged residents to go to the Support Avon Schools website and to contact members either through there or by posting in the comments here or by coming to the public forum if they have questions about specific parts of either issue.