See inside the new Dayton STEM elementary open in Kettering

Credit: Bryant Billing

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The Dayton Regional STEM School is now holding elementary classes at its new Kettering building located next to its high school.

The new, $23 million, 60,000-square-foot STEM elementary school at 1724 Woodman Drive opened this month after hosting elementary classes at the beginning of the school year at a nearby rented Research Park building.

ExplorePREVIOUS: Dayton region’s STEM School to expand model, add early grades, build school
Dayton Regional STEM School opened a 60,000 square foot elementary school building the first week of January. The building is located south of the school's combined middle school and high school building. BRYANT BILLING/STAFF

Credit: Bryant Billing

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Credit: Bryant Billing

Robin Fisher, the Dayton Regional STEM Schools superintendent, said it has been a long-term dream to open a K-12 STEM school campus.

But the combined high school and middle school building was at capacity. The new elementary is next door in what was formerly an open field. The STEM schools bought 9.58 acres at a price of $55,000 an acre from Kettering in 2024.

“It wasn’t until within the last couple of years that we were able to, through some advocacy work, secure some additional funding for our students that allowed us to look at a financial model that made it feasible to open up the elementary,” Fisher said.

The STEM acronym represents science, technology, engineering and math.

Currently, grades kindergarten, first, second and fourth are offered at the STEM elementary school. Third grade and fifth grade will be added next year, with applications now open for fourth grade and kindergarten.

There will still be opportunities to apply in middle school and high school since there is more capacity at those grade levels, school officials said.

The Dayton Regional STEM Schools are an independent public school. While the schools are public and get state funding, they are not considered charter schools. Only eight such schools, including the Global Impact STEM Community School in Springfield, exist in the state.

While independent STEM schools aren’t common, it’s even rarer to have an elementary STEM school. One other school, the Bio-Med Science Academy STEM School in northeastern Ohio, offers STEM education outside of middle and high school.

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Avery Affourtit, a kindergarten student at Dayton Regional STEM Elementary School, counts on her fingers while doing a practice assignment on her computer on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The school opened a new elementary building the first week of the month. The new building is located just south of the combined middle and high school building. BRYANT BILLING/STAFF

Credit: Bryant Billing

icon to expand image

Credit: Bryant Billing

Because the Dayton Regional STEM Schools are not a traditional public school, they borrowed about $23 million over 36 years, with a 5% rate, said Gina Samson, the STEM schools treasurer.

Samson said the cost of the building was just under $23 million, so the building is currently under budget.

“We have to come up with the money to repay this debt,” Samson said.

SHP Architecture and Design designed the building and Shook Construction built it.

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About the Author

Eileen McClory is the education reporter for the Dayton Daily News. She grew up in the Dayton area and returned to cover her hometown.