Monday, September 22, 2008
Photo
Corrie Romesburg, 17, a Senior at the new high school this year waits for her mother to finish a tour in the new library which boasts new furniture, a computer lab and for limited time, a view of the old building.
By Sean Barron
Three schools for pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade are being built in Warren.
WARREN — As Imani Wills tried to describe her new school, the word “amazing’ kept coming up.
“It’s like going to a private school,” the Warren G. Harding High School 11th-grader said. “It makes you feel rich and classy.”
Imani, a member of two school choirs, was talking about the new $44 million high school, which opened its doors Sept. 2 and was the site of Sunday’s dedication ceremony and open house. Construction of the school at 860 Elm Road N.E. began in June 2006.
Imani, who plans to attend Wright State University near Dayton to study pediatrics, listed the new technology as one of the most impressive aspects of the facility.
Hundreds filled the cafetorium for the half-hour ceremony that featured school and elected officials lauding the new high school that houses roughly 1,700 students in grades nine through 12. The three-hour event also included informal tours and an open house.
Among the amenities the facility offers are studio space for a student television network, a competition-sized swimming pool, special-education services and a full-size media center.
In 2003, residents approved a bond levy, which allowed the school district to form a partnership with the Ohio School Facilities Commission and led to the construction of several schools in the city, Superintendent Dr. Kathryn Hellweg noted. The OSFC funded about 81 percent of the Harding project, with the rest coming from local taxpayers, she said.
The district is building three schools for pupils in kindergarten through grade eight: Willard, Jefferson and McGuffey. Willard is slated to open in January 2009; the other two should be ready by the start of the 2010-11 school year, Hellweg added.
Calling the new high school “a dream and a vision,” Robert L. Faulkner Sr., school board president, thanked city residents for approving the bond levy, despite having to endure difficult economic times.
“This is a proud day for our entire Warren community,” Faulkner said, adding that the new school has what’s needed for students to succeed.
Regardless of how state-of-the-art Harding is, however, it remains imperative that the community helps set goals for students and that parents are proactive in their youngsters’ lives, said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th. For their part, Ryan continued, students must do their best to attend college, obtain a trade and give their gifts and talents back to their communities.
Ryan also presented to Hellweg a flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
The ceremony also featured remarks by Mayor Michael J. O’Brien before members of the student council and others gathered onstage to cut a ribbon officially ushering in the school.
