Renovate, update, possibly consolidate

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins Schools is getting a new look through renovations and upgrades. More changes are to come along with a possible new grade level layout. What's happening Late last year, Perkins Schools hired an architecture firm to assist officials in creating a master plan, which would outline suggested upgrades to the district's buildings to better serve its students. The district is considering its buildings' ages and the district's decreasing student enrollment when creating its plans, according to superintendent Lonny Rivera. Fewer students roaming the halls means the district is looking into ways to best support those attending, possibly by consolidating its buildings. Some improvement projects have already been completed while others are in the planning process, but every change made is supposed to be covered by dollars the district already has, so it will not turn to taxpayers. The budget for everything is $30 million. Some parts of Perkins Schools' buildings date back to the early 1900s, according to Rivera. "When I came in, the board said, 'Listen, we have to upgrade the facilities,'" Rivera said. What's been done Rivera said when he first transferred into Perkins Schools, upgrades were underway to make things better within the district's walls. Some projects and upgrades that have already been completed include new signs and painting to "freshen it up," as Rivera said. In the pool area, the district also added a new scoreboard because the old one was decades old and stopped working. "Some of the stuff we just had to take care of, and we have a very active athletic boosters that really helps pitch in for a lot of these things," Rivera said. Last summer, the district updated its Pirate Learning Center at the high school. Rivera said the district wanted to give the students a nice environment that could be used throughout the day, with students studying during the day and board meetings in the evenings. Around the start of the 2024-25 school year, the band room at the high school flooded during a rainstorm. The district was able to revamp the space that had been left untouched for "a long, long time," according to Rivera. Here is a list of what was done and added to the band room: • Cleaned • Painted to fit the school's color scheme, rather than blue • Soundproofed • New cabinets added The performance rooms were "not really functional," according to Rivera. "This was kind of one of the first things that we were able to do to get some more pride into this and make it look good," Rivera said. Some of the upgrades have also benefited those who attend sporting events at the school. There are 600 to 700 people within the school at these events, according to Rivera. The district would receive complaints about how small a number of bathrooms there were to accommodate the crowd. Rivera described it as a logistical nightmare not only for sporting events but for the auditorium as well. To solve this problem, the district reconfigured a little-used locker room into a bathroom. This change increased the building's overall bathroom capacity by 20, including a family bathroom and separate spaces for referees to change and shower. Other district buildings also received makeovers. Like the high school, Briar Middle School experienced a flood last year. Thanks to the 80,000 gallons of water, the hallways, gym and band and choir rooms got new floors. Rivera said the district also had a partnership with Sports Force Parks because there was not enough space at the schools for extracurricular activities. The district also replaced the asbestos tile flooring in Briar Middle School and Furry Elementary School's cafeterias and installed rubber flooring that's safer for kids to play on. What's to come The district still wants to upgrade more: Namely, its air conditioning and boiler systems. "Air conditioning is a big problem," Rivera said. "That's one of the things we're working on is trying to get everything air conditioned." He added that a lot of the district's boiler systems are still standing from the buildings' original builds. "It's still running, it's still there, but it's just they're all on their last legs," Rivera said. The recently board-approved service building is one of the first steps in what needs to be done, along with growing the parking lot, according to Rivera. Meeting minutes indicate the board awarded Speer Bros. the contract to construct the parking lot, which was bid at $838,000. The service building will be located north of the maintenance and garage facilities on the high school's grounds on Campbell Street. Rivera said the district is in need of storage space. The district's plan includes updates to its current maintenance facility. Two of the bays will be closed off and conditioned so they can store district records and other temperature-sensitive items. Behind the maintenance building will be the newly built addition for storage. "We're always trying to find places to put things," Rivera said. "We needed to be able to upgrade a storage facility for our district, and that's what you'll see happening here in the next, like, month and a half." The district currently has work crews on its property removing trees to expand its parking lot. The district's maintenance department said the new layout will add about 100 new spots. Officials also considered safety in the redesign. Attendees of the district's outdoor events will also gain more restrooms. Outside the baseball field and next to the track will be two bathrooms. Possible consolidation Rivera said similar to all other districts in the area, Perkins Schools is experiencing a drop in enrollment. The discussion of realigning grade levels has gone through the district for years with several unsuccessful attempts at getting taxpayer support for projects. He said the district is working with an architect and exploring options on how to realign its grade levels, although there is no set plan on how, when or if this will be a future reality. One idea explored is moving the middle school students to the high school building. The north side of the high school building would be for the high school and the south side would be for the middle school. If this plan becomes a reality, other district buildings could also change. Meadowlawn Intermediate School would move into the middle school space, the intermediate school building could become a preschool, administrative building and multipurpose space for programs. "Furry right now is like 120% capacity," Rivera said. "There's no extra room to do anything. If you've been there, you can see it. So we're trying to just move things around that makes sense." Rivera said one benefit to this redesign is to bring middle school students closer to some of their classes. He said many of the younger students are taking classes and doing activities at the high school building already. Some staff members who split their time between buildings will also save time spent traveling. The middle school building would still see the same upgrades the rest of the district sees, with a clean-up, HVAC and mechanics. The district will continue exploring this option, he said, but if any district realignment occurs, it could be as early as the spring of the 2026 school year. What's the cost Rivera said the district has paid for every project and plans to pay for future projects completely with dollars it already has. "The desire is that we don't have to go back to the voters for any money," Rivera said. "We want to do all this in-house with the funds we have and still be able to operate and not have to go back for additional funds." Regardless of budget, these are projects the district has to complete, according to Rivera. Rivera said the district will continue to keep an eye on potential cuts in state funding coming from Columbus to make sure the district stays within budget when changes come. "That's what we're working through right now with our architects," Rivera said. "The thing that we're always monitoring is funding at the state level because you know we've got to do something. We know we need to do upgrades." Rivera said a timeline on future projects is still in the works. He said it was all part of a master plan to decide if major construction is done, when is the best time for it. "We have aging facilities, we do, and it's time to fix it," Rivera said.