In the end, though, he said the $17 million building soon would be like home for the school’s 430 or so students. “We love it. People are going to love it,” Williams said.
The high school, paid for with a combination of local and Ohio School Facilities Commission dollars, was built between the 1950s high school and the district’s kindergarten through eighth grade building that opened in 2004.
District superintendent Todd Rappold last week discussed the building’s green elements, such as geothermal heating, day lighting, solar hot water heating and a roof rainwater recovery system.
Empty boxes dotted the school’s halls as teachers continued to arrange and set up their rooms in preparation for the nearing opening day. At least one classroom already was in use last week for a math tutoring session.
The move from the old high school to the new one next door was facilitated by an Ohio National Guard unit whose members moved everything in about six hours, Rappold said.
The only room in the school without exterior windows, the drafting room, was designed with a skylight to complete the building’s natural-lighting theme.
Rappold said the kindergarten through eighth grade building ranked for a number of years as the most energy-efficient building in the OSFC building program. With the added efficiency features in the new building, the district expects to see “a great deal” in energy savings, he said.
The project will come in well more than $1 million under budget, Rappold said. The board of education later will determine how the savings will be returned to the community. Options include a shorter loan period, however the money cannot be used for other district needs, such as operating expenses, he said.
The single-story building has English and history rooms down one hall from the front entrance and science and math rooms down another with hopes of encouraging some team teaching in the related subject areas, Williams said.
New to the high school offerings is a lecture hall for use in some senior classes to give students a taste of a college classroom atmosphere. The hall with tiered seating also can be used for counselor discussions on scholarships and other presentations.
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