The long-awaited building of a new elementary and middle school on the site of the demolished Kenmore High School is one step closer to breaking ground after Akron City Council passed a conditional-use construction permit Monday evening.
The permit is a necessity given the residential area where the new school will be built. The school will replace the current Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts and Pfeiffer Elementary buildings and locate them on a single campus — the project comes with a $76 million price tag.
City Council’s approval allows Akron Public Schools to begin submitting designs and other documents for approval, clearing the way for the project to begin construction early next year.
That price tag grew dramatically after the old high school was demolished. First, the project was taken from former Treasurer Steve Thompson’s purview by ousted Superintendent Michael Robinson. Steve Keenan, another top administrator who left Akron Public Schools, oversaw the project for months before he resigned following a lawnmower reselling scheme.
Now, under the guidance of the district’s longtime leader for business affairs, Debra Foulk, the project is inching closer to fruition.
“It is actually very exciting,” Foulk told Signal Akron Monday evening. “It is not an unusually long road for any of these types of projects.”
What does the permit allow Akron Public Schools to do?
The permit allows the district and its contractors to begin submitting documents and to begin getting hard prices on material and labor.
“We just wrapped up the design development phase,” said Zach Forney, the lead architect from Prime AE Group. “We’ve sent that over to the construction manager to look at for pricing.”
The next steps, before machines start moving dirt and workers begin construction, involve more paperwork.
“We’re going to keep on moving forward with all the construction documents now,” Forney said. “So, finally getting all of what the people call blueprints and whatnot, all the plans, details, all that very detailed information that we’re going to be putting together.”
A community meeting about the building project will be held Jan. 14 from 5-7 p.m. at the Kenmore Community Center, 880 Kenmore Blvd.
That part should be done by January, and Foulk said ground should be broken on the dual campus by the second week of March.
The school, which has yet to be named, should open for students in August of 2028. After that, the district will begin the abatement and demolition process for the old Miller South and Pfeiffer buildings.
Kenmore project has deep support in community
Akron City Council Member Brad McKitrick, who represents Akron’s Ward 6 on the city’s southeast side, has deep ties to the Kenmore neighborhood. He said his wife’s grandmother used to live on 9th Street in Kenmore with a front-porch view of Pfeiffer Elementary. His wife, Valerie, a former APS Board of Education member, used to climb rocks at the elementary school. When his sister-in-law was visiting recently, she wanted a tour of the old neighborhood.
“[She] wanted to go check out the area and see grandma’s old house and see Pfeiffer and everything,” McKitrick said. “I was telling her about this project. … If you go into any of the new school buildings and see how nice they are, I think all of our children deserve quality buildings for quality education. So I’m 100% for this.”
The project has garnered outspoken support from the Kenmore community, especially when the Board of Education was considering downsizing or changing the initial plans for a new school, which will keep Pfeiffer Elementary’s population within walking distance.
“I think it’s a big win for Kenmore, because you know they lost their high school, but now they’re going to gain the school for Miller South and new elementary school,” McKitrick said. “I think that’s a huge, huge win there.”