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Schools

Board Gets Tour of Wildcat Park Development

Celebration planned for Sept. 8

From the look of things, board members are quite pleased with the project after a tour of the premises on Wednesday afternoon a little more than one week before its grand opening on Sept. 8.

Superintendent and Treasurer Scott Snyder put together a slide show presentation giving an overview of the project at a school board meeting Wednesday evening.

Overall, the $36 million, three-year project has impacted the entirety of the school district including , , , , and a transportation center with the new high school football facility being among the final touches.

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Kelly, who just took over as the new superintendent, sees the project as a necessary means of keeping the school relevant in the current educational climate.

“I think what it does for our school district is it enhances our competitiveness with other school districts. It brings us to a level,” Kelly said. “The fact of the matter is that people shop school districts today. We want to remain competitive with our facilities, with the quality of our educational programs, and provide a very safe environment for our kids and our staff.”

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Kelly also thanked both the staff and students for their patience in coping with the project, and they’ll be rewarded with a big celebration on Sept. 8 that kicks off at 9 a.m. and ends with the football team’s home opener against Olmsted Falls at 7 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium.

Some of the other areas that were part of the tour and touched upon briefly during the board meeting included:

Connector building project – This will give students a safer and easier ability to navigate between two floors of the high school and make the guidance and administrative offices more accessible.

The main entrance – This opens up the high school campus’ front area and is located basically where the school’s former tennis courts used to reside.

Media center – This will have multiple small and large learning spaces inside and provide an opportunity for outdoor usage which can accommodate the use of electronic devices.

Field house – the as-yet-unnamed facility will be a kind of workout center that residents who reside within the school district will have a chance to use.

The project also covers improvements to the cafeteria, ceramics lab, art classrooms and technology lab. And the wrestling and weight rooms have seen significant donations come their way, Snyder said.

“The entire plan is really something for the community. They can use it. They can enjoy it. It can become the center of our community at certain event times. It’ll be a very special place on Sept. 8,” Kelly said.

Snyder said the connector building project and areas of the administrative wing should be finished by November.

Snyder said the Wildcat Community Foundation has raised some $600,000 for the project and continues to do fundraising in support of the venture.

“It’s an amazing of amount work and an amazing amount of progress in a very short amount of time that has great benefits for everybody who’s going to be using the facility,” Board Presidentsaid.

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