New construction helps SWCSD improve teaching, learning
Kim Travis has spent 27 years teaching at Finland Middle School in the South-western City School District.
She opted to spend one more year as a teacher.
“I wanted to stay one more year to see our new school building open,” Travis said. “I”m so glad I did. It’s a dream come true. After 27 years in the old Finland building with no air conditioning and to see the sense of pride our students are feeling with their new school – I have windows in my classroom now, and the colors are so much brighter.
“The students are really enjoying having more light coming into the classrooms and the wider hallways. It makes our school a more welcoming place where you want to come to learn.”
Finland is one of four new middle school buildings that were opened in August as part of segment 2 of the district’s Ohio Facilities Construction Commission project . New buildings also were constructed at Brookpark, Norton and Pleasant View middle schools through the November 2018 voter approval of a bond issue to pay for South-western’s portion of segment 2 of the OFCC project.
The second phase also included a renovation of Jackson Middle School, which brought the amenities and features for that school building in line with the new facilities.
The middle school construction project provides a way to ensure students at each building are able to receive equitable opportunities to benefit their learning, said Cheryl Spain, Southwestern’s executive director of middle grades, gifted and testing.
“It’s all about making sure we have the flexible space and resources needed to help address each student’s individual learning needs,” she said.
Rebuilt middle schools were South-western City School District’s oldest
The four middle schools that were rebuilt are the oldest of the schools serving seventh and eighth grade students, according to Evan Debo, the district’s executive director of communications.
Finland, for example, was opened in 1964 and had renovations completed in 1975 and 1995, he said.
“It’s been a while since any of these schools have received an overhaul,” Debo said.
Finland’s new building offers about 3,900 square feet of additional classroom space over the previous structure, according to principal Tyler Winner.
“It gives us some additional space to work with if we continue to see a spike in enrollment,” he said.
An auxiliary gym was included in the new middle school designs, and for Finland, that means designated indoor space set aside during the upcoming winter season for both the school basketball and wrestling teams, Winner said.
“They won’t have to be sharing space like before,” he said.
Notable features with new SWCSD building construction
Travis said she appreciates the new break-out space that have been added adjacent to classrooms.
“It allows our intervention specialists to have a place where they can hold small-group sessions with students who need additional instruction,” she said. “We don’t have to worry as much about where we’re going to be able to fit everything in.”
As with the new school buildings, Jackson’s renovation included expanded science lab facilities, said Jackson principal Dan Boland.
“That allows us to have multiple groups of students working on different projects at the same time in their classroom,” he said. “It gives us a lot more flexibility.”
It also allows future expansion of science lab activities that will better prepare students for the courses and programs they may choose to participate in high school or at the Southwestern Career Academy, Boland said.
Technology also has been enhanced at the new and renovated buildings, Spain said.
Students use smart TVS when they appera before the class to show their work in the science labs and other classrooms. she said.
It’s the high-tech version of the oldfashioned chalkboard that their parents and grandparents might remember using at their schools, Spain said.
“Those are the kind of tools they are going to be using” as they advance through school and into careers, she said.
Along with the practical teaching and learning benefits they’re receiving from the new facilities, students also are gaining a renewed sense of pride in their schools, Travis said.
“We had more students coming with their parents for our open house event than I remember ever seeing before,” she said. “There’s just a sense of excitement everyone’s feeling about Finland this year.”