For nearly two decades, the BCLSD Board of Education and administration have worked with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to develop a facilities master plan. We needed to develop a long-term facilities master plan to address the needs of our students. The facilities planning process involves three stages – assessments, options, and decisions - to produce a master plan.The passage of a bond issue in November of 2009 to construct
a new middle school (grades 5-8) was a direct result of the district working
several years with OFCC on the facilities planning process. Following the middle school project, there
were still several issues confronting the district. In November of 2013, voters rejected a plan,
thus requiring the District to reexamine the options to address the needs. As times change, facility plans may as well
to address the changes to enrollment and the educational needs of our students.
Assessment Phase
Assessments of the condition and costs to renovate or
replace our elementary and high school facilities have been conducted in 2012
and 2017. The costs to renovate, due to
the inadequate or very poor conditions, lack of adequate square footage, and
site constraints, resulted in the OFCC recommendation to construct new
facilities. Third-party facility
assessment reports and enrollment projections were conducted as a standard part
of this process.
Options Phase
Over the last few years, we have reviewed our plans with the
OFCC, and gathered community input at meetings and through surveys, to address
our immediate facility needs and present a fiscally-sensitive plan to our
community. As a result, as many as eight
(8) different facilities configurations, including new construction and
renovation options, were carefully reviewed.
In the late spring of 2016, the District conducted a
facilities survey in which we received over 750 responses from community
members and staff. 82.13% of the
respondents prioritized the need to address our elementary facilities. Respondents favored one elementary school be
constructed near the center of our school district. Survey results also indicate the need and
support for improving our high school facility. Opportunity for community input has taken place at numerous Board
Planning Sessions and regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings. We engaged county officials and engineers,
private engineers, architects, and local officials in the planning process. In June of 2016, we contracted with a civil
engineering firm to conduct a site feasibility study. Seven (7) different locations throughout the
district were analyzed as possible locations including existing school
campuses, vacant property owned by the district, and vacant property not owned
by the district. The purpose was both to
provide general information and identify possible flaws or impacts which would
prohibit the site from further consideration. Site factors being considered included physical features, roadway
factors, public utilities access, environmental/ecological impacts, and
district operations efficiency with student transportation and staffing.
Decisions Phase
Beginning in August of 2017, the District entered the
Decision Phase. The feedback gathered
throughout the planning process has shaped the master plan finalized by the
Board of Education in November 2017. The
adopted plan is responsive to the needs and desires of our community. Prioritizing the need to address our
elementary school and high school needs into two final phases allowed the
District to present a conservative plan that our community could support as
they did with Issue 3 in May of 2018.