Board of Education Looks at Dodge's $11 Million Fixes

The Twinsburg Board of Education will address ways to finance proposed upgrades at Dodge Intermediate School tonight, with a price tag of nearly $11 million.

The administration has discussed Dodge for years, knowing the aging school would require some renovation.

“We’ve seen the need to do some work at Dodge,” Assistant Superintendent Mike Lenzo said. “The building’s about 40 years old and it’s at the point, like anything else, it needs attention.”

In the Jan. 16 meeting, the board heard a presentation from Balog, Steines, Hendricks and Manchester, an architectural firm out of Youngstown. The firm examined the site early in 2010 and showed board members what improvements could be made.

The biggest concern was classroom size. Currently, each classroom is about 600 square feet, which Lenzo said is much smaller than most classrooms these days.

The architectural firm suggested that the classrooms on the west and east wings of the building be expanded to 900 square feet, which would require moving the exterior walls out 15 to 20 feet. Attention would also be paid to adding better insulation, making the building more energy efficient. This phase would cost nearly $7.5 million for the west wing and $1.9 million for the east.

They also suggested renovating the north end of the school by removing locker room space and turning it into a large group lecture room for student and faculty use. This portion of the project would cost about $1.3 million.

Board of Education President Ron Stuver said they now have to discuss ways to make these changes a reality without overspending.

“We see what we have to do,” Stuver said. “The question now becomes: Can we fund it, how would we fund it, and do we want to do everything that is on the list?”

In tonight’s meeting the finance committee will discuss possible options they have to fund the project without going to the voters for a tax levy.

“I am not in favor of putting a tax levy up for this particular project,” Stuver said. “I think we can do this within the permanent improvement monies that we already receive and I think it’s going to take some creative financing options.”

Stuver also said that while they will discuss finances tonight, no decisions will be made.

“There’s quite a series of steps that we have to go along to make this happen,” Stuver said. “It’s not going to get approved Wednesday night.”

Whatever steps are taken, work on Dodge wouldn’t begin until summer 2012 and would take two summers and a school year to complete.

“I think the building desperately needs attention,” Lenzo said. “I just want to do it as efficiently and practically as possible.”

Check back Thursday for updates from tonight’s meeting.