Thursday, June 21, 2007
The district is working with a commission to replace all 13 of Warren’s schools.
WARREN — An Ohio School Facilities Commission re-evaluation of the Warren City School District calls for a reduction in overall square footage of future buildings.
The re-evaluation was completed by DeJONG Inc., a Dublin, Ohio-based company. It projected a decrease of 1,660 pupils in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from the 2006-07 school year to the 2016-17 school year.
Student enrollment at the end of the last academic year was 5,751.
The board of education will hold a work session to discuss the impact of the readjusted enrollment at 6 p.m. July 19 at Packard Shelter House on Mahoning Avenue. The session is open to the public.
In November 2003, district voters approved borrowing $40.7 million through the sale of bonds to finance the district’s share of a $153 million school construction project.
Replacement project
The district is working with the facilities commission to replace all 13 of Warren’s current schools with one new high school and four new kindergarten through eighth-grade buildings.
The district had a goal of completing its building construction projects by 2010-11. But according to DeJONG’s figures, the effort has to be adjusted to fit an enrollment of 4,784. All future buildings must be based on this figure.
The facilities commission requires that the remaining construction of the K-8 schools be based on an enrollment of 1,288 — and not 2,200 as it was according to the 2003 master plan.
DeJONG’s re-evaluation is based on live birth rate, historical enrollment, community school enrollment, open enrollment and housing information.
The Warren schools have faced increased competition for pupils from charter schools and other districts with open enrollment.