Ohio District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/12/21

This weekend, school leadership in Finneytown, Ohio, broke ground on a new elementary school slated to open in spring 2022. The facility will measure in at 90,000 square feet, and its $22 million price tag will be split between the Ohio Construction Commission and the Finneytown Local School District.

“The current buildings have served the community well, but it is time to have new facilities,” said Terri Noe, Finneytown Local School District Superintendent. “The community understood that it was a better investment for the future to build new instead of trying to renovate the older facilities at a higher cost.”

The new facility, Finneytown Elementary, will feature “learning communities” in which students from multiple grade levels will share a single environment. A news release explains that the goal is to encourage collaboration between students from different classrooms and from different grades.

“Our learning communities are by far the most striking feature of the new building,” said Finneytown Elementary Principal Meredith Baker. “By design, our students, staff, and community will be able to learn together in large, shared spaces in each academic wing. Having flexible spaces and project labs throughout the building facilitate the 21st-century learning our students need and deserve.”

According to Joseph Honnerlaw, a trustee of Springfield Township, Ohio, the new facility will have “a deep and positive impact on the community for years to come, serving generations of families and providing quality educational opportunities for our children.”

The facilities will also feature enhanced safety and wellness features, as well as updated ventilation. Finneytown Schools is partnering with Skanska USA and emersion Design on the project’s design and construction.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • California District Completes Second Phase of Construction on Innovation Campus

    The Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) in Milpitas, Calif., recently announced that Phase Two of construction is complete on the MUSD Innovation Campus, according to a news release. The district is partnering with Blach Construction and Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) on the education and workforce development center, which will support Calaveras Hills High School.

  • San Diego High School Hits Construction Milestone

    Part of a whole-site modernization project at Mira Mesa High School in San Diego, Calif., recently reached a construction milestone. The final steel beam of the new classroom and student services facility was put into place, completing the building’s structural framework.

  • The Impact of School Security on Student Well-Being

    One of the most fundamental human requirements, as outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, is the provision of basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing. In school, this hierarchy of needs shifts to include the need for physical, mental, and emotional safety. The student mind is not biologically wired to deal with the negative impacts of unsafe environments, which implies that security has a major impact on student well-being.

  • Minneapolis Public Schools Continues Work on New Construction, Renovation Projects

    Minneapolis Public Schools in Minneapolis, Minn., is working with integrated construction management firm Kraus-Anderson on renovations to North High School that include a new Career & Technical Education (CTE) Center, according to a news release. The three major components of the project are new academic and athletic spaces, a new central student commons, and a North CTE Center.

Digital Edition