Waynedale’s new school set to open next year
The new Waynedale School’s gymnasium will include a regulation 94-foot-long basketball court and will seat 1,100, which is 200 more than the current gym, and also will have additional mezzanine-level seating.
Work is continuing fast and furious on the new 170,000-square-foot Waynedale School pre-k through 12th grade building, with the goal of opening for the 2024-25 school year becoming more of a reality each day.
The metal roof has been completed, and work has begun inside. A recent tour with Superintendent Jon Ritchie and Director of Operations Erich Riebe provided an early glimpse of an approximate $59 million structure, which is expected to house students well into the next century.
“The school construction is on schedule and on budget,” Ritchie said. “One of the things that we did is we planned far enough ahead to avoid supply chain issues or other things that could delay the project.
“The entire district will be under one roof. It’s paid for largely by the pipeline money, so we didn’t have to raise people’s taxes. The state will also pay for about 13% of the project anywhere from five to 15 years from now.”
Just how much money the pipeline will put toward the project has become unclear since the groundbreaking in June 2022, Ritchie said.
“The reality of it is that the pipeline tax issues are tied up in court,” Ritchie said. “We can afford what we’re building now, but the hope is that some sort of settlement will come up that would significantly increase the value that the pipeline would put in place. At that point we’d be looking at maybe adding an auditorium and other gym/weight room facility.”
Even with the current blueprints, the new Waynedale school will be a huge upgrade and unlike any construction project the village of Apple Creek has ever seen. The district will even get a new name, going to Waynedale Local School District starting in 2024-25 instead of Southeast Local School District.
The enormous building will be separated by grade levels, with separate entrances for the high school, middle school, elementary school and kindergarten. The only common space will be the cafeteria, but the different levels will never be together.
Ritchie, who will step down as the Orrville superintendent on Dec. 31 after 16 years at the helm, also is the leader of the Waynedale, Rittman and Tri-County school districts.
In the span of his various superintendent roles, this is the sixth new building he’s been in charge of overseeing and the largest.
The contractor is CT Taylor Construction, and the architect is BSHM Architects.
About 75 workers a day have labored to keep the project on schedule. To provide one example of the scope of the project, Ritchie said there will be an estimated 13,000 loads of concrete delivered.
A district-wide effort has helped plan the building, ranging from Ritchie and Riebe to the school board of Valorie Lewis (president), Sandra Cerniglia (vice president), Dave Troyer, Matt McKelvey, Rick Reynolds and past member Tim Suppes; Assistant Superintendent Holly Mastrine; treasurer Mark Dickerhoof; Student Services Director Jamie Cicconetti; Maintenance Director Dave Thomas; and input from principals, teachers and other administrators.
The Waynedale District will keep the current high school building and John R. Lea Middle School, using them for board offices, athletics and storage.
Fredericksburg Elementary, which was built in the 1890s, was sold to the fire department, Mount Eaton Elementary has been sold to Beacon Hill School, and the Holmesville and Apple Creek elementary schools also will likely be sold.
Many of the current buildings in the district are outdated and don’t even have air-conditioning.
“This is a long time coming, obviously,” said Riebe, a former Waynedale athlete, coach and principal in the district. “Selfishly, I would have loved for my kids to be able to take advantage of this. Now my grandkids will go to school here, which is great. It’s great to see this come together for the entire community.”
As the district’s operations manager, Riebe and staff members have done a great deal of planning. They will continue to work together to integrate six schools from throughout the rural district.
“Looking at transportation, we’re obviously still going to bus kids,” Riebe said. “Instead of going down to pick up the Holmesville kids, for example, and taking them to Holmesville Elementary, we’ll be bringing them back to the main campus here. Those are things we will work through.
“We’ll have a staggered start to the year, bringing in middle school and high school kids the first two days and then everybody else the third day.”
Merging six different sets of cafeteria workers together into one central kitchen also will take an adjustment period. What if they don’t all agree on the best apple crisp recipe?
“Yeah, one cafeteria vs. six will be quite a difference,” Riebe said. “It will take patience, but we’ll figure it all out.”
Some of the new Waynedale School building features are as follows:
—Steel studs were used throughout the building instead of traditional wood framing. “It’s like an erector set and should last 100 years,” Ritchie said. “If someone decides in 25 years or so they want to change the size of some classrooms, these will be much more cost-efficient to change.”
—Classroom sizes will be traditional. There will be extended learning rooms in which larger groups can come together for group sessions or projects.
—Every room will come with Qomo Boards, mic and audio system.
—A regulation 94-foot-long basketball court (current court is 84 feet) in the main gym will seat 1,100 (200 more than current gym) and also have additional mezzanine-level seating. There will be a much higher ceiling than the current gym.
—To give an idea of the scope of the project, the order for all new furniture was $1.3 million.
“So far we’ve got nothing but positive feedback,” Ritchie said. “It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge for some of these communities farther from the new building, but we’re really excited about the opportunities to provide for our district. From an economy of scale standpoint and co-teaching, it’s going to be more cost-effective. Overall, this will be quite an upgrade.”