Today, the CH-UH school district announced a revised facilities plan, based on responses to two possible options for new and renovated school buildings. The New Plan, as the district is calling it, shows that the district's leaders hear and are responding to concerns about the number, size and location of schools, the best place for athletic facilities, and others. Between now and the next community-wide meeting at Cleveland Heights High School on April 18, the district is holding ten informal meetings - including one at each elementary school - to talk about the plan and answer questions. As the district's news release reprinted below indicates, the door is open for further refinements as needed. Together, our community is making great progress, but the work's not done yet. So make your voice heard, get to one of the meetings if you can, post to the facilities blog or Facebook page, and help ensure that our community's public schools remain a strong community asset for the next half century and beyond.

With fond hopes that Spring is near (and Winter's not just waiting to screw with us one more time), 

Patrick  

While you're marking your calendar, don't forget these upcoming events, all parts of the beauty that is the Heights:

21st Annual Reaching Heights Spelling Bee - March 28, 7 pm at Heights High. Enjoy a fun and spirited event that features two dozen teams vying to claim the Coveted Plastic Bee Trophy, while celebrating public education. Proceeds support Reaching Heights and our work on behalf of excellence in our public schools. Free admission. Click here to watch a promotional music video and learn how you can support the event.

FutureHeights Annual Meeting, Featuring Harvey Garrett 

Tuesday, March 20, 7 pm, at Grace Lutheran Church, 13001 Cedar Rd. Rd., to hear keynote speaker Harvey Garrett, executive director of the West Side Community Collaborative (seen in photo with a home he rehabbed), discuss "Reversing Disinvestment in Our Community," how his group transformed one of Buffalo, N.Y.'s most distressed neighborhoods into its fastest- growing real estate market. Please RSVP for this event here.

RoxArts Annual Benefit: Rox-N-Roll: Groovin' at The B-Side

Saturday, March 24, 6:30-10 pm. Don your favorite 70's fashions and boogie the night away at Rox-N-Roll: Groovin' At The B-Side at the popular B-Side Lounge, 2785 Euclid Heights Boulevard, in Coventry Village.  Food, wine and beer, music and dancing, silent and live auctions. Proceeds support arts education at Roxboro Elementary and Middle Schools. Click here for a list of auction items and here to purchase event tickets

Poet Laureate Invitational - Friday, April 27, 7:30 pm, Heights Arts Gallery, 2175 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Cavana Faithwalker has invited the following fellow poets to join him in celebration of National Poetry Month in April: Kathleen Cerveny, Vince Robinson, Trina Jones, Tammi Powell, Phil Metres. Free. 216.371.3457 or  heightsarts@heightsarts.org.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights school posted the following news release on its website this afternoon. Links to more information about the facilities planning process are at the end of the news release.

March 14, 2012 -- The District's Master Facilities Planning Process, begun in early 2011, is nearing its final stage.  Based on community input and reaction to the two ideas presented at the February 22 community meeting, the planning team, made up o f District administrators and architects, has been working to create a final plan design that supports the community's educational needs and fiscal realities.

On March 20, that plan will be presented to and evaluated by the Citizens Facility Committee who began the process approximately two years ago.  The plan, while not final, will represent the culmination of an immense amount of study, analysis, input, and revision from the Planning Team, the Facilities Committee, and the community at large.

The design will also be presented and refined by a series of small community information sessions before being rolled out at the large community meeting on April 18 at Cleveland Heights High School from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. (The community meeting that was originally set for March 21 had to be moved to April 18 in order for the team to review all community feedback that was received through community meetings, coffees, the facilities blog, email, phone conversations, and letters.)

The New Plan that will be presented includes the following:

• Heights High (grades 9-12) located on the existing site. The historic core, football stadium, and swimming pool would be preserved and renovated; the many building additions would be demolished, and new space will be added to create a modern high school.
• Three intermediate schools (grades 4-8) located on the existing middle school sites: Wiley, Monticello, and Roxboro.
• Four primary schools (grades PK-3) would be in the renovated Roxboro, Canterbury, Oxford, and Boulevard locations.
• At Roxboro and Monticello Middle schools, the historic core would be preserved, the many additions will be demolished, and new space added to create modern 4-8 intermediate schools. Fourth, 5th and 6th graders would be physically separated from 7th and 8th graders.
• Wiley Middle School would be demolished and re-built.
• At Canterbury, Roxboro Elementary, Oxford, and Boulevard, the existing buildings will be repurposed; some of the interiors will be remodeled to accommodate the flexible learning spaces that are necessary for teaching and learning today and into the future.

 The New Plan represents a further iteration of the work that has been done and presented to the community over recent months. At the February Master Facilities Planning Community Meeting, the planning team presented the community with two design ideas for the future of our schools. However, because of community feedback, specifically around the importance of maintaining neighborhood schools, the New Plan was created to provide a realistic scenario that still met District and community needs.  

The facilities planning team, with the assistance of each building's PTA unit, will host several informal meetings at each of the schools.  All are invited.  These are informal meetings that will enable participants to ask questions freely and continue to offer suggestions. All meetings are open to the public.

-- Thursday, March 15, 7:00 p.m.- New Community Bible Fellowship, 3557 Washington Blvd.

-- Sunday, March 18, 12:30 p.m.- Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, 3031 Monticello Blvd.

-- Monday, March 19, 4:00 p.m.- Offices of studioTECHNE, 12210 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, (Heights Sustainability Club + Project Build)

-- Thursday, March 22, 6:30-8:30 p.m. - Roxboro Elementary, 2400 Roxboro

-- Monday, March 26, 6:30-8:30 p.m. - Fairfax Elementary, 3150 Fairfax

-- March 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m.- Gearity Professional Development School, 2323 Wrenford

-- Monday, April 2, 6:00-8:00 p.m.-Noble Elementary, 1293 Ardoon,

-- Tuesday, April 3, 6:30-8:30 p.m.- Oxford Elementary, 939 Quilliams,

-- Wednesday, April 4, 6:30-8:30 p.m.- Canterbury Elementary, 2530 Canterbury

-- Thursday, April 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m. - Boulevard Elementary, 1749 Lee Road

-- Wednesday, April 18, 6:30-8:30 p.m. - Heights High Social Room (childcare and refreshments will be provided on April 18)

• The purpose of the April 18 meeting is to bring a single idea, along with the financial plan to fund it, to the public. The public will again be asked to provide input on the plan and suggestions for making it the best plan possible for our students and community.

"As we move forward in the master facilities planning process, we want to assure our community that we are hearing and respecting all of the input we are receiving. We will continue to make refinements as needed," said Superintendent Doug Heuer.  

For those unable to attend the February planning sessions, those initial ideas were:

• Idea A would have created three campuses, each having one building for pre-kindergarten through third grade and one building for grades four to eight. The campuses would be located at Roxboro, Wiley, and Monticello.  All other elementary and middle schools would be closed. The high school would be substantially renovated.
• Idea B would have created kindergarten through eighth grade campuses at Roxboro and Wiley, and pre-kindergarten through third grade programs would be offered on the Oxford, Canterbury, and Coventry sites. The other elementary and middle schools would close. Substantial renovations would be made to the high school.  Click here to view a diagram of these two ideas. 

Click here for Q&A.

Watch the student produced community views video .

Visit the facilities planning blog. 

Visit the facilities Facebook page.   

Elementary and middle school instrumental music students are invited to spend a fun-filled week, June 18-23, exploring music at the Heights Summer Music Camp. Campers will perform in an orchestra and chamber groups, learn music theory, and participate in a jazz or guitar workshop, or the Heights Summer Music Camp Chorus. Cleveland Heights-University Heights music faculty, community musicians, and college and high school students provide individualized support and expert coaching and instruction. Campers make great music, and have fun with their new friends from across the CH-UH school district. For more information and to apply, click here.

Reaching Heights | www.reachingheights.org | 216.932.5110 | patrick@reachingheights.org

Click here to support excellent public education in the Heights by donating online.

Thank you!