The 20/20 Vision Report to the Board of Education January 2009

Process Overview  Mission: to develop a clear, well-planned vision for providing and maintaining facilities that will support the Westlake City Schools’ mission to educate for excellence  While opinions may have differed, it is with confidence that everyone, regardless of affiliation, strongly agreed there is a problem with the District’s facilities that needs to be addressed responsibly and as soon as is feasible.

Vision 20/20 Committee  Committee made up of diverse group of community members  Met for nearly 3 months  Studied wide spectrum of facilities and enrollment data

Data-Driven Process Provided with a variety of historical data including:  Facility Study from the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC)  Land Use Study by Lesko & Associates  Limited Internal Data (Land Use Study 2005)  Enrollment projection studies-Spring 2002 and Spring 2007  2007 enrollment projection update  2008 Lesko Facilities Assessment

Data-Driven Process (cont) Provided with current facility data including:  Facility Condition Comparison  Building Summary  Floor Plans and Site Layout  Enrollment Projections Report  District Expense Comparison  Expenditure Per Pupil (Cuyahoga County)  Election History  Grade Configuration Comparison  Option Comparison

Summary of 20/20 Meetings  During the 6 meetings committee members:  Analyzed and requested various data  Prioritized plans  Discussed pros and challenges for each plan  Listed important areas that needed to be considered for facilities  Debated each plan with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats  Everyone, regardless of affiliation, strongly agreed there was a problem that needed to be addressed responsibly and soon.

Facility Plan Recommendation Narrowed 13 options to 2 and recommend both to the Board of Education for further study and consideration:  Option A: Five building grade-level configuration clustering grade levels (9-12, 7-8, 4-6, 2-3, and pre- K-1)  Option B: Six building regional elementary configuration (grade levels: 9-12, 7-8, 4-6, 2 schools as K-3, and 1 elementary as pre-K-3) Both plans move the 4 th graders to the intermediate school and call for a new high school and a renovated middle school with additions. The difference between the plans is in the elementary configuration.

Recommendations  The Committee identified these strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats but clearly believe that the strengths and opportunities outweigh any possible weakness or threats.

Option A Strengths & Opportunities  Best value, innovation and long term strategy  Advantages to grade level configuration  Synergy of instruction by the aligning of certification  Economic benefits of plan  Operational efficiencies  Age appropriate equipment  Properties available for other use  New buildings increase desirability of living and doing business in, and attracting families to Westlake  Brings District in line with surrounding schools and allows Westlake to compete  Collaboration among teachers  World class education with new technology, labs  Reduces duplication

Option A Weaknesses & Threats  Transportation considerations  Cost of plan  Questions about what happens with current property and facilities.  Interruption of athletics and extracurricular activities  Project LINK may be disrupted  Students will transition schools more  Previous maintenance of buildings  Change from neighborhood schools and loss of smaller buildings  Convincing the community of need  All buildings will age at the same time  Emotional connection/nostalgia about the buildings

Option B Strengths & Opportunities  Design for the 21st century  Better educational opportunities and flexibility  Familiar concept/proven success  Improvement on the status quo  Smaller learning communities and community pride  Opportunities to partner in the community  Operational efficiencies  Leadership issue with older students working with younger students  Properties available for other use  Ability to have multipurpose athletic facilities  Students develop long-term, in-depth relationships  Green building opportunities

Option B Weaknesses & Threats  Duplication of staff  Increased transportation for students  Personnel shifting and pupil redistricting  Fear of change  Cost to the taxpayers all at once  Must have a long term way to maintain the buildings  Community doesn’t yet understand the need  Emotional connection to buildings  Collaboration still a hurdle in K-3  Don’t know how schools impact the community for residents with no children in schools

Additional Considerations The Committee felt strongly that there were also a number of topics the Board of Education needed to also consider while moving forward in the process: Community Education Plan  Board and district staff should engage the community and educate them to the existing facilities problems and issues. Permanent Improvement Revenue Stream  Any bond issue must include a way to maintain the buildings long term through a permanent improvement stream. Building Spaces  Keep the following as top priorities: core academic spaces, interactive technology in classrooms, flexibility for expanded technology use labs/wireless, athletic areas, music areas.  Also important are flexibility of space, inclusion of spaces for the arts as a whole, and considerations for specialized learning (large group/STEM/etc.).  Conference rooms, meeting rooms and small group learning areas would be nice to consider, but not as critical. Enrollment Numbers  Assure the buildings are built to house each of the largest projected classes, as provided from the most recent enrollment projection study performed by DeJong and Healy.

Additional Considerations (cont) Athletic Fields  Plans should at least replace outdoor fields if they are eliminated during construction and have a transition plan Timing  Despite a challenging economy, the District must put this issue on the ballot as soon as practicable and before the next operating issue and the issue must be addressed as a whole. Partnerships  Partner with other community entities (hospitals, businesses) best utilize community resources, support community needs and reduce costs.  Work with the City as a partner to address City recreation needs as part of the plan which includes the utilization of unused/vacated land. Programming  Should the Board determine a grade-level configuration will be implemented the District should utilize an effective process to determine the right grade- level set up by obtaining staff input and comparing with other grade-level configured districts. Also, all elementary buildings must be able to house all- day kindergarten.

Questions