'It's extremely disappointing'

NORWALK – The Norwalk City Schools Board of Education met Wednesday evening and discussed plans for a possible new school building. The board addressed the recent presentation the Huron County Commissioners received from Garmann Miller, the firm that is planning the architecture and engineering options for a new Norwalk City School District building. The firm presented options for a new elementary school building on Shady Lane, and how purchasing adjoining land from the county would allow them to build a larger and more adequate building to serve students. However commissioners still disagreed on the land sale, and commissioner Harry Brady held firm to his previous decision to not allow the land sale, and came with a prepared statement that was written before the presentation. "We're advocating for our community, and for our kids, and for our kids' kids," School Board President Alison Crawford said. "This decision to build an elementary school will surpass all of us and our children and it's extremely disappointing that a commissioner had a speech prepared before he even listened to our presentation." During the school board meeting, board members wanted to give their thoughts on the commissioners meeting and address their continued efforts to get a school building built and the land sale agreed upon. "This is our time and our meeting and I think that we should say publicly why we are hoping that that decision will change," Crawford said. "Our borders don't fall exactly within the Norwalk city limits, our Norwalk City School District borders are different and there is not a lot of opportunity or land for us to purchase outside of what we are trying to purchase on Shady Lane. "We need so many acres for this to make sense for us to be able to put an elementary building as big as we need it on this campus and I am really hopeful that this community will help us advocate for what this community needs and our district, just really disheartened that an elected official wouldn't even just sit down with us and discuss all of the positives that this gives to our community." Superintendent Brad Cooley noted that two other superintendents attended the meeting, and that he brought a signed letter from all other superintendents in Huron County voicing support for the building and the land sale. "We had two superintendents from the county attend, one from a city school, one from a local school and I had a letter signed by seven individuals saying this is not a fairness issue for schools," Cooley said. "This is what's best for our region, this is an improvement for the educational facilities for all, we're not competing against one another, I want what's best for South Central, Willard, Monroeville and every other school in our county. "It showed a lot that we had other superintendents that showed up on that day as well as a signed letter that says we are in agreement that this is what's best. That speaks volumes because one of the points made in the past was that this is not right to do something special for Norwalk City School District, that's not how it's viewed by the very people who are in the business, the business of giving good education to kids in this city and by extension this county." Board member Eric Gonzales also noted during the meeting how important it is to remember what the goal of the project is. "I would remind our commissioners even tonight to remember what we are doing, we are not in the business of building buildings, we're not in the business of selling and acquiring land, we are in the business of shaping community, we're in the business of shaping people's lives and I would challenge our commissioners to recall what their goal is for this community." Additionally Crawford said they are hopeful to continue gaining community support for the project, and that the opportunity they are presented with to receive state funding is essential. "It's hurting an entire community because we truly could lose the opportunity to bring in state funding back to our town and our community," Crawford said. "So this decision is something that hurts people in ways that I don't think the whole community even understands. We could lose the opportunity of having this funding if we don't have the land to build it." Currently, there are six schools in the district: Maplehurst Elementary (pre-K through first grade), Pleasant Elementary (second and third grades), League Elementary (fourth grade), Main Street Intermediate School (fifth and sixth grades), Norwalk Middle School (seventh and eighth grades) and Norwalk High School. Five of these require serious repairs to be up to Ohio Facilities Construction Commission standards, making the need for a new school building essential for the district. "Mr. Cooley was faced with almost closing one of our buildings on Tuesday because our pipes eroded and froze and we weren't sure we were gonna have heat in one of our buildings," Crawford said. "I mean, these buildings are not going to stay to the point where we can even use them and we are going to lose days of education. "We are going to be throwing taxpayer money into buildings that need to be retired so I'm hopeful that (Brady) will understand that our options are limited and this land is our only option and I would be very upset to lose this state money, our tax money bringing it back into our community to better this community." Board members concluded that they are going to continue working to get this project off the ground, and are hopeful they can make it happen. "What we do is have enough professionalism that Mr. Cooley or any of us would sit down with (Brady) or any of them at any point and have a rational conversation," Crawford said. "That's all we've asked for, is to sit down and truly go over the points and why this is good for everybody, including them. Our land is situated in between what they have and they can hardly do anything with their sliver over here and over there. "We weren't just asking for something, we were moving and shifting and giving them more opportunity and this is a no-brainer, I don't know how much clearer we can make this, this is an opportunity for everybody and we would sit down and offer more for the land in value, we would offer more of the land that we're retiring, it could be a very open discussion and I do thank the commissioner that does see it and has been advocating for us."