The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
District prepares site for new high school
Ground has been broken for the new Firelands High School at 10521 Vermilion Road in Oberlin.
The project, which is being funded by a bond issue passed by voters in 2018, is on track to be completed on time for the 202223 school year, according to Firelands Schools Superintendent
Mike Von Gunten.
“We see with other shutdowns through the pandemic in other communities, our project continued to move forward through the architect and construction,” he said.
Excavation work began around Sept. 9, when equipment arrived on the property, with a lay down area cut in and a gravel construction road installed.
Office trailers for the site will arrive shortly, with a stormwater retention system and underground utilities the first to be constructed at the site.
The groundbreaking is brought about by planning that spanned 2019 and most of 2020, with architects, visioning meetings, studies and site surveys taking up most of last year.
Renderings of the school were available in June.
The 106,000-squarefoot, two-story building will have a brick exterior, large windows in classrooms and a cafeteria that will connect to the existing high school, at 10643 Vermilion Road.
Von Gunten said the current high school will then be used as the new middle school, currently South Amherst Middle School, at 152 W. Main St.
He said while the district hopes to get the building complete in the summer of 2022, there will still be work ahead for students and staff to transition into the new buildings.
“The summer of ’22 is going to be a busy one as our high school staff will have to move into their new building,” Von Gunten said.
Students will be transferred from both the middle school to old high school, and the old high school to the new one over two school years.
“We’ll make sure everything is all set to go for the beginning of ‘22-23,” Von Gunten said.
He said after years of behind-the-scenes work, it’s exciting for the district to see the new high school begin to come to life.
“Now the public can really see that things are in a very visible way moving forward,” Von Gunten said.
The district will be holding a live virtual groundbreaking ceremony at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 15 through the Firelands Local Schools Facebook page.