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New school dedicated in Girard
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
GIRARD
The new Girard Junior and Senior High School will help students get the education they need to be competitive in the 21st century, the schools superintendent and Gov. Ted Strickland said at the building’s dedication.
“This gift from our community provides you an opportunity to build the skills that you will need to compete with your peers from across the world,” Superintendent Joseph Jeswald told students among an audience of about 300 people at Saturday’s dedication. “It’s now your responsibility to reach your potential,” Jeswald added.
The state paid 80 percent of the cost of the $26 million building at 1244 Shannon Road. A 3.8-mill, 28-year local bond levy, which voters approved in May 2007, covered the remainder.
Built on a previously undeveloped 25-acre site annexed to Girard from Liberty Township, the building has 47 classrooms, four computer labs, about 260 new computers and two gyms. The two-story, 130,000-square-foot building will house about 250 junior-high-school students and about 520 high-school students when school opens Tuesday.
“In Ohio, we are committed to providing our students with a 21st-century education, and, in Girard today, students will receive that education in a 21st-century school building,” said Strickland, who is running for re-election. “Our young people are worth it,” he added.
As of June 30, the Ohio School Facilities Commission had opened 739 new or renovated buildings in 243 school districts, he said. An additional 112 school buildings are being designed, and 175 are under construction, the governor said.
Other elected leaders in attendance were U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-32nd.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” Caroline Standohar, president of the incoming senior class, said of the new school. “The technology is so advanced, and it’s really going to be the dawn of a new era of excellence in our school system.”
Her class will be the first to graduate from the new building.
Standohar’s brother, Evan, is an incoming freshman, and another brother, Mark, is entering seventh grade, both in the new building.
Their parents, Mark Standohar, Girard city law director, and Nancy Standohar, a sixth-grade teacher at Girard Intermediate School, are 1983 graduates of Girard High School.
The dedication ceremony was in the school cafeteria, which doubles as an auditorium, with the stage flanked by clusters of red and black balloons representing the school colors.
The old Girard High School building on Ward Avenue, which was built in 1924, likely will be demolished next January or February, Jeswald said.