Akron’s newest high school will be built on the site of the current Garfield High School on North Firestone Boulevard.
The Akron Board of Education sealed the deal Monday night with a unanimous vote. Superintendent David James made the recommendation that the Garfield High School site be used for a new high school combining Garfield and Kenmore high schools at a school board meeting last month.
The school district owns the 10.4-acre site and the demolition and abatement would be co-funded by the state, James said during his presentation. The other sites under consideration were either privately owned industrial properties, were near high-tension power lines, had high costs or were unsuitable for building. One site on Thornton Street was outside the boundary of Garfield and Kenmore.
The school would be the final newly built high school in the district’s nearly $800 million districtwide construction project.
The board made the decision to merge the schools in October in a unanimous vote. The merger would save about $1.3 million annually, including salaries and utilities, according to the district.
The plan has drawn criticism from the Kenmore community at several meetings.
Before the vote, in light of those concerns, school board Vice President Patrick Bravo said: “I have a real problem feeling like we’re abandoning that southwest corner of the city. … I think this vote still allows us some time to move forward [and] gives the superintendent what he needs to be able to move forward in building the school.
‘‘It may represent the best opportunity to not completely close off the potential for something in Kenmore [if things should someday turn around].”
Board member John Otterman said he was happy to hear Bravo was open to considering the Kenmore community. Otterman was a city councilman when the schools project began and is an East Akron resident.
“I do not want to see us just totally abandon that corner of the city, jeopardizing the housing value over there … I want to take responsibility on my behalf, as a councilman, when the project started … I chaired the planning committee and I should have been more vigilant on what we were doing,” Otterman said. “There were some schools that were built that shouldn’t have been built, to be quite honest.”
“… I wish we could have done a little more for the Kenmore community,” he said. “[But the project] does need to move forward.”
The plan to renovate and rebuild school buildings dates back to 2002. It is funded in part by a 0.25 percent increase to the city income tax that voters approved in 2003, with the state paying 59 percent toward construction and renovations of school district buildings.
The school district has a building space capacity of 30,442 students. Its current enrollment is 20,772.
Year-end enrollment data show Kenmore High School has 522 students, who fill the high school to 33 percent of its capacity — the lowest enrollment of the district’s seven high schools. Garfield has 694 students.
The goal is to start construction of the new high school by fall 2018.
Earlier in the meeting, board members held a moment of silence for the family of four who lost their lives in a North Hill house fire Dec. 3. The Rev. Dr. Curtis Walker Sr. said he stopped by services Monday for Akron students Aniyla Riley, 9, and Shanice Riley, 8, and their parents, Omar Riley, 37, and Shirley Wallis, 34. Wallis’ daughter, Shaniya Wallis, 12, was the only survivor.
In other news, Case Elementary School in the Firestone cluster received its authorization as a participant in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme on Dec. 1.
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and https://www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.