CMSD NEWS BUREAU
7/1/2016
CMSD has added a new Douglas MacArthur Girls’ Leadership Academy to the list of schools that will be built in the next few years.
Work will begin in summer or fall of 2017 at the site of the existing school on Valleyside Road. The construction will relieve crowding that has forced the school to use modular classrooms.
The project is among several updates made to the eighth segment of a construction and renovation program that the District began in 2001. The Board of Education approved the updates Tuesday.
Other revisions include:
- Starting construction of a new Marion C. Seltzer School in summer or fall of 2017, a year ahead of schedule. The school will remain at its West 98th Street location.
- Building a new Lincoln-West High School rather than remodeling the existing building. Work will begin in 2018 on Lincoln-West’s existing West 30th Street site.
- Fully renovating Joseph M. Gallagher School, 6601 Franklin Blvd., with work beginning in 2018. The school had been scheduled for smaller-scale refurbishing.
- Remodeling Newton D. Baker School of the Arts, 3690 W. 159th St., instead of building a new school.
Other schools to be built during Segment 8 include Bolton, Case, Marion-Sterling and Valley View Boys’ Leadership Academy.
The new Lincoln-West will house two new small schools designed to better meet the needs of students. The schools, which will open this summer, include the Lincoln-West School of Science and Health and the Lincoln-West School of Global Studies. The School of Science and Health will have some classrooms based at the main campus of the MetroHealth System.
CMSD and the community had discussed remodeling Lincoln-West, but Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon said the building needs extensive work.
“We believe the community can have and deserves a brand-new state-of-the-art building to serve 800 kids and two programs,” Gordon said.
The District plans to extensively renovate Joseph M. Gallagher School because the PreK-8 building’s enrollment remains strong and it will be needed over the long term, Gordon said.
By remodeling Newton D. Baker instead of building a new school, CMSD will make the best use of money available for construction and other work, Gordon said. He said there was some sentiment in the community for keeping the existing school.
CMSD launched the districtwide building and renovation program after the gym roof at the former East High collapsed in 2000. The state contributes slightly more than $2 for every $1 the District spends on new construction and full renovation. The District has built and renovated more than 40 schools during the first six segments of the program.
The final project from Segment 6, a new Campus International School for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, is under way on the grounds of Cleveland State University. (See photo at top.) CMSD is leasing the site.
With the help of the state funds and a $200 million bond issue that voters approved in 2014, CMSD is tackling the last three segments. The District plans to build 20 to 22 schools and remodel 20 to 23.
CMSD is about to begin construction of schools in the program’s seventh segment.
Projects include a new West Side high school on the site formerly occupied by Max S. Hayes High School and a John F. Kennedy high school building that will house JFK PACT and JFK E³agle Academy.
Also included are the following PreK-8 schools: Fullerton, H. Barbara Booker, Oliver H. Perry, Sunbeam, Waverly, William Rainey Harper and a new school next to the current site of the Whitney M. Young Leadership Academy.
