Ohio School District Looks Ahead to Various Improvements

By Eric Althoff

AVON LAKE, Ohio—The Avon Lake City Schools district is looking to enter into an agreement with design firm Fanning Howey for various upgrades to its schools. The architect had earlier performed work at the district’s Avon Lake High School.

According to the Chronicle of Elyria, the district is looking specifically at updating buildings at Learwood Middle School as well as several of the elementary schools under its purview. The district’s enrollment continues to increase, necessitating updating its various buildings. One of those upgrades is installing air conditioning units, which are needed during the stifling summer months encompassing the end of one school year and the commencement of the next.

According to the Chronicle, the district superintendent, Bob Scott, also pointed to other necessary projects including replacement of older boilers and reinforcing several roofs that have been exposed to weather.

Any plan conjured by Fanning Howey will need to go before the local board of education, who will then have to decide how said improvements to the school district would be funded. Meanwhile, a facilities planning committee has been meeting on several occasions to work with the architects on potential refurbishments district-wide, the Chronicle reported

Fanning Howey’s other education-related projects in the Buckeye State include Parkside Elementary and Riverview Elementary, which were the first schools in the state to achieve LEED version 4.0 certification.