SCHOOLS Harding principal unveils new concept

Separating classes allows younger students more transition time from middle school.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- The concept for the new Warren city high school encompasses Warren G. Harding High School's front entrance and auditorium, and separates upper and lower grades.
Principal William Mullane presented the concept Friday at a Harding High School strategic planning committee luncheon at Avalon Inn.
The school district plans all new schools as part of an Ohio School Facilities Commission project. OSFC is footing 80 percent of the estimated $170 million bill with a voter-approved bond issue paying the remainder.
The plan is to build five kindergarten-through-eighth-grade buildings and a high school. Existing buildings would likely be demolished.
Mullane stressed that the concept formulated by architects is in the beginning stages. It hasn't undergone a cost analysis or been approved by the school board.
Historic preservation
The design for the new school, which will sit behind Harding, incorporates the front of that school in the interest of historic respect. The school board set aside a part of the local portion of the building project for historic preservation.
"We'll have two sections, one for ninth and 10th grade and another for 11th and 12th," Mullane said.
That incorporates the small-school concept into the new building, he said. Last year, Harding decided against pursuing a grant to convert to four smaller high schools, each with a different theme, because the community didn't support it.
But the community did like the idea of some aspects of smaller schools.
Mullane has said that separating younger high school students from upperclassmen allows the younger students more time to transition from middle school. The younger classes also will be taught by the same teacher through the year, grouped together based on grades and test scores.
Construction of the high school is tentatively set to start in December 2005 and run through November 2007, with staff and students moving in the following year.
denise_dick@vindy.com