New Middle School on the Horizon

Avon needs a new middle school, and the sooner, the better.

That was the message coming out of this week's meeting. The buildings and infrastructure subcommittee of the Continuous Improvement Plan committee made a presentation to the board that showed is already over capacity and it's only going to get worse.

A 2.5-mill levy, that would come to about $75 per $100,000 of home value, could go on the ballot as early as November if the board of education agrees to go ahead with the idea.

The building's capacity is 600. The current enrollment is 612. By 2014, projections are for 730 students.

The committee said adding onto the existing school is not feasible, and it would be difficult and costly to update the building.

Building a new school could be done on some of the 49 acres of land on Long Road that the district owns.

It's a good time to build, said superintendent Jim Reitenbach. Interest rates are low, and the district should be able to get good bids from firms looking for work.

The current middle school could become the new primary school for pre-K through second grade. Village School is too old and the two-story facility is not ideal for such young children, said subcommittee member Mike Laub.

Increasing enrollment is going to affect the whole school system. Current projections have enrollment growing from 3,978 this year to 4,605 by 2014.

"To put that in perspective, that's adding a building's worth of students," said board member Kevin Romanchok.

Heritage North and Heritage South Elementary Schools will be nearing capacity in the coming years, the subcommittee reported. If a new elementary school is needed, there would still be anough land on the Long Road.