High-tech classrooms, energy efficiency highlight new $38M South Range school

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

Greenford

A new school has technology almost as smart as the students it will house.

The $38 million South Range school complex will serve all of the district’s 1,340 students, from kindergarden to 12th grade, and replaces the combined high school-elementary school in North Lima and the middle school in Greenford. The school sprawls on a plot of land off state Route 46, about four miles south of the Canfield Fairgrounds.

When students arrive Sept. 8 for their first day, each classroom will be equipped with five computers — including one for the teacher — SMART boards, an interactive-teaching tool that connects to a computer; and day light harvesting technology, said Superintendent Dennis Dunham.

“With electricity usage, the school will save money over the long haul,” said Steve Palla with Nomad Group of Texas. The Lutron Lighting system should pay for itself in 10 years.

Palla explained that the larger classrooms have two windows to allow natural light in, and as the ceiling light fixtures get farther from the window, the light becomes brighter. If someone forgets to turn out the light, a motion sensor will automatically turn it off after a certain amount of time.

The school is divided into three color-coded wings, for elementary, middle and high school students, each with its own gymnasium, Dunham said.

The project was funded with $20 million from the Ohio School Facilities Commission and an $18 million bond issue approved by voters in 2007.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.