“While keeping an open mind about the Homewood site, we’re going to move ahead,” Stanic said, noting the district-wide, new-school construction project must be complete by 2012. “Those people who didn’t want to see a new building go there and wanted to see the Julienne building preserved, well, they got their wish.”
Julienne supporter Marc Suda, president of the Five Oak Neighborhood Improvement Association, called the district’s decision “disappointing but not unexpected.”
“For the record, Five Oaks has never not wanted a school for the neighborhood; we just didn’t want this school demo’d to put a (new) school there,” Suda said.
Suda had urged the district to renovate Julienne, a 1926-era building at 325 Homewood Ave. that was a Catholic girls high school until 1973. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the school also served as Dayton Christian School and as temporary home to Stivers School for the Arts. But the district argued renovation was far costlier than new construction, and Julienne was too large for a 550-pupil elementary school.
City Commissioner Nan Whaley, a Five Oaks resident, said it was “unfortunate the neighborhood and school district couldn’t come to a consensus.”
“I still wish there would be a school there,” she said. “I think that would be best for this neighborhood.”
Dayton school board President Jeffrey Mims Jr. said even if the district could overcome opposition and zoning issues surrounding the project, two years of delays have added another $2 million to the price tag because of inflation. He said Five Oaks still would have two new public elementary schools nearby — E. J. Brown at West Fairview Avenue and Willowwood Drive and River’s Edge Montessori near downtown, which is expected to open this fall.
Before it was put on hold last year, the district spent about $600,000 on the proposed Homewood school in architectural fees, site planning and other work, according to John Carr, the district’s chief construction officer. He said the bulk of that, $523,000, came from the state’s share in the district’s decade-long construction project.
Stanic last fall announced the district’s plans to add seventh and eighth grades to its high schools, saying it would allow the district to enhance high school electives, better prepare kids for upper grades and diminish drop out rates.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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