Rendering courtesy of Warren Local Schools Parking, access between buildings and discipline organization are all complete in the design stage of Warren High School.

VINCENT — Warren Local Schools is on track for two new buildings in three years, according to Superintendent Kyle Newton.

The $71 million building project has seen significant progress in design over the last few months with input not only from the teachers who will be using the spaces for collaborative learning, but also from safety specialists. The project includes the construction of a new elementary and a new high school building, renovations to the existing middle school building and the demolition of old buildings to centralize the district onto one campus.

“The budget hasn’t changed, though the estimates are different,” said Debbie West, one of the district’s board of education members. “So now we’re trying to get those budgets to align with the estimates going into the bid package process and working with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to make sure everything is fair.”

Newton said the elementary school, to house up to fourth grade, will be the first to be complete, and already has 95 percent of its design completed.

“And for the middle school we’re going to have that interior design meeting where we pick the paint swatches and tiles and carpet and colors in mid-November,” he explained. “Both buildings need to last and be timeless but also not boring. You don’t want it to feel institutional, we’re building schools, not prisons.”

Rendering courtesy of Warren Local Schools The atrium will feature both a lunch room and collaborative learning and event space.

And so elements of light, collaborative learning spaces, multi-purpose gathering spaces and community after-hours use are priorities in the plans, along with safety focus.

“With every conversation I have with someone outside the schools about this project, within 10 minutes they’ll say ‘that’s great but what are you doing about safety?'” Newton explained. “What’s great with the firm we’re working with is they have two designers that specifically are dedicated to safety and they can explain how glass is not your enemy and how we have choke points and layers of security that will complement what we’re already implementing on the preventative side.”

Safety features will include bullet resistant glass, multiple security cameras, closed circuit mobile technology and panic buttons in every classroom and administrative area as well as ground floor access on every level of both buildings.

“Plus we’re adding the reunification technology side too so that after an event, whether it’s a fire or an active shooter, we can return to normal from that chaos faster and safer,” he added.

With the design so far along, West noted the availability of virtual walk-throughs on both the district’s website and social media.

Rendering courtesy of Warren Local Schools Collaborative spaces are designed between grade levels in the layout of the elementary school.

“So people can take a look and recognize that even in these flexible spaces the design is to be maintained long-term and at the same time stay within budget,” she said. “But we’re also trying to make it community focused since we understand that our district doesn’t have access to as many community gathering places like a YMCA as other more urban districts would.”

One major feature Newton said he is excited for in the high school is the atrium, which will serve as not only a cafeteria for two designated lunch periods, but may serve as an event space, as small group learning spaces for classes to break apart and present or build presentations, and may be used in cross-disciplinary events.

“Picture instead of an open house just for students, we launch a whole community day where the family can come and visit all of the classrooms and the band can play and there can be a volleyball game and the banks can sponsor hot dogs and the little league teams can host sign-ups alongside the scouts all in one central location on our campus,” he said. “My hope is when you come and park your car you feel like you’re on a college campus. If I’m a parent and I have parent-teacher conferences in different grades it’s all close and I can tackle the whole campus in one night.”

Coming up next are final design meetings and decisions, and then the creation of bid packages for contractors to throw their hats in the ring.

“And that’s when we’ll see what gets built when and by whom,” explained Newton. “The elementary building will be done first, by the 2020-2021 school year, because it’s an 18-month build with about 80,000 square feet. The high school is a 24-month build with nearly110,000 square feet.”

And the middle school additions will be intermittent.

“Some of the work can be done while classes are in session with the add-ons,” Newton said. “But the interior work will need to be done during the summers. Since we’re currently using that building, though, that work can be done at any time in the three-year process.”

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What’s Next:

* Mid-November: High School interior design meeting.

* End of November to January: Bid packaging and bidding process.

* January to March: Groundbreaking dependent on weather.

* Summer 2019: Both elementary and high school buildings under construction.

* Fall 2020: Elementary classes to be held in the new building.

* Fall 2021: High school classes to be held in the new building.

* Intermittent: Middle school additions to take place during summers and school years.

* Final demolition of old buildings to take place after construction completion.

Source: Kyle Newton, Warren Local Schools superintendent.

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Walk through designs and safety measures:

* Elementary virtual walk-through: bit.ly/VirtualElmdraft.

* High school virtual walk-through: bit.ly/VirtualHSdraft.

* Building project updates and documents: bit.ly/warrencommunityupdates.

* Safety measures: bit.ly/warrensafety.

Source: Kyle Newton, Warren Local Schools superintendent.