Lauren Presutti knows there are kids in Kenmore. She just doesn’t often see them.
When two new Akron Public Schools buildings open in the neighborhood in August 2028, just more than a block from Kenmore Boulevard, she expects that to change.
“It’ll bring, just, life into the neighborhood,” said Presutti, a 20-year Kenmore resident. “When APS decided to take away Kenmore High School, it really hit the community hard.”
Now, the neighborhood is counting on the $76 million project to relocate Pfeiffer Elementary School and a middle school, Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, to the former site of the high school. They hope the support will help revitalize Kenmore’s main corridor, encourage people to move to the area and reestablish the neighborhood as a destination.
“That’s huge,” Ward 9 City Council Member Tina Boyes said. “We don’t see that kind of investment.”
Boyes said she expects the ripple effects from the schools — particularly Miller South — to potentially be transformative for the area of more than 17,000 residents, which some feel has been ignored by the city.
After the number of schools in the neighborhood fell to four from 10 and promised new schools remained unbuilt, Kenmore residents felt overlooked, said Mike Bastas, who grew up in the neighborhood and has lived on Kenmore Boulevard since 2013.
When he was growing up, Bastas said, Kenmore was as idyllic as the fictional town of Mayberry. There were community events and a thriving neighborhood; the 1969 Kenmore High School football team’s 21-12 victory over rival Garfield High School at the Rubber Bowl still animates him. So it hurt to see the hollowing out of the community, and the schools.
Since Kenmore High School was combined with Garfield in 2017, and the building closed permanently in 2022, “we still have a bitter pill in our mouth,” Bastas said.
The new buildings will be a much-needed anchor, he said. Bastas said he’s “beyond excited” to go to a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. today in anticipation of the construction project he hopes will increase property values and draw home buyers to the area. Now, just more than half of Kenmore homes are owner-occupied.
“I know we’ll never have our own high school again, but I think it’ll help prioritize our community,” Bastas said. “Schools always do. They’re a vibrant part of the community.”
‘We’ve been waiting for positive news’
Population loss and open enrollment reduced the number of students in the area and led to schools closing, Boyes said. Former Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said that, in turn, hurt people’s perception of Kenmore.
“I think it’s a disincentive for people to reinvest or invest in the community,” Plusquellic said of the lack of schools in an interview last year. “There’s an emotional part of this, community pride.”
Names — like that of Kenmore High School — are important to communities that are struggling to hold on to their identities and value their history, Boyes said.
“When the school closed, a lot of people kind of felt hopeless,” said Sean Blake, the president of the Kenmore Historical Society. “A lot of people are not going to hold their breath until they see a shovel in the ground.”
Boyes said Pfeiffer’s decision to eschew its current mascot, the pirate, and replace it with the Kenmore High School cardinal will mean a lot to the community.
It may seem small, she said, but for residents, it’s an olive branch from a district that had lost their trust after years of delays. That trust was lost in part because Plusquellic, a one-time Kenmore High School football star, helped pass a 2003 income tax that funded new schools across much of the rest of the city, but didn’t satisfy a desire for new schools in Kenmore. It’s something he still has hard feelings about.
“We’ve been waiting for positive news,” Boyes said. “You give Kenmore something, they will wrap their arms around it.”
The school construction project has been years in the making, said Eleni Manousogiannakis, the executive director of Better Kenmore Community Development Corp. Rallies, emails, community meetings — residents have been vocal and insistent in their advocacy for Kenmore.
Manousogiannakis said Kenmore, which was once its own city, used to be the second-largest neighborhood in Akron but has since dropped to fifth. Two of those that surpassed it — West Akron and Goodyear Heights — had new buildings built for their high schools; Buchtel and East Community Learning Centers, she said. Manousogiannakis said those new schools likely helped drive people to the areas.
As such, Manousogiannakis expects big things for Kenmore as a result of the new schools: revitalization, economic development, growth. Better Kenmore intends to use the schools to leverage more money for the area, including for housing.
“The impact on the economy is direct in that way,” she said. “Historically, people want to live closer to where their children … go to school.”
Getting Miller South students involved
With more than a dozen performance venues, recording studios, music schools and instrument repair and manufacturing businesses, Kenmore Boulevard is branding itself as Music Row.
Those businesses could have a symbiotic relationship with a school focused on the performing arts. The connection to Miller South is already bringing new vibrancy to the neighborhood, years before the school even opens.
Seth Vaill, the co-owner of The Rialto Theatre on Kenmore Boulevard, said last year that he would expect to do after-school programs or lessons geared toward students to improve affiliations between the Rialto and Miller South.
He had already started doing Saturday afternoon shows with some students — “Our future musicians.”
Vaill said the school could be a “backbone” for the community.
Gina Wilson, who owned The Center Dance + Yoga Studio before it closed in December, and is herself an alumna of Miller South, said last year that more artist-centric traffic will be a “really good thing” for the neighborhood.
Alison Rich, a visual arts teacher at Miller South, said she’s been working more and more with Better Kenmore to build connections in the community. There’s not much of a neighborhood feel in Sherbondy Hill, where the school is currently located, so she’s looking forward to being able to walk just a few blocks to access businesses and potential collaborators.
Miller South students had a pop-up gallery in a Kenmore Boulevard storefront; that space has since been leased, Rich said. Art can help change spaces, and she hopes to have students working on murals in the area and participating in community events.
She called the community tenacious, and she said she’s glad Miller South will be associated with it.
“They believe in Kenmore, they love Kenmore, they fight for Kenmore,” Rich said.
‘A really good match for the community’
A Miller South art show has already moved to First Glance Student Center, just more than a block away from the new school site, on Kenmore Boulevard. Jessica Swiger, the executive director and a 15-year Kenmore resident, said she thinks the combined school will bring energy and excitement to the neighborhood. She hopes it will bring more students in to participate in First Glance’s programming.
Swiger thinks the schools, and the increased foot traffic that comes with them, will reduce crime. The new facilities will increase self esteem and make students more confident in themselves.
“I think it’s a moment for Kenmore. It’s the City of Akron fulfilling their promise,” she said. “I think that’s huge for trust.”
The Kenmore Branch Library also expects to have more students participating in its programs as a result of its proximity to the new campus, said Wendy Zarara, the branch manager. Some Miller South students have performed at the library, which has the only ukulele collection in the Akron-Summit County Public Library system.
Kenmore has gotten a bad rap, Zarara said, but she thinks it’s going through a resurgence. She hopes plans for a walking path to connect the library with the school come to fruition, making it easier for people to walk from one to the other.
“I think it’ll be fantastic,” Zarara said of the school opening. “I think it’ll be a really good match for the community as we envision it.”
Looking forward for Kenmore
What’s the vision for Kenmore?
For Presutti, it’s kids playing at recess and a feeling of hope. For Boyes, the council member, it’s improved social cohesion and engagement. For Rich, the Miller South teacher, it’s a vibrant neighborhood full of color, with more places to get a meal or sit for a cup of coffee.
Plusquellic, the former mayor, said he hopes a portion of the people who are taking their kids to school or working there find their way to Kenmore Boulevard.
“This is an anchor for a neighborhood, there’s no question,” he said. “I’m happy for them, and I hope their wishes come true.”
Positive feelings toward the schools will beget them for the community, Plusquellic said. Still, he suggested caution in an area where the median household income is just more than $47,400: “There is no way this is a magic pill that will turn Kenmore Boulevard into downtown Hudson.”
“This is not a hip replacement for the Boulevard,” he added.
That may be true. But Blake, the historical society president and a fourth-generation Kenmore resident, said after the community disappointment in the school closures, opening new ones may be just what Kenmore needs to bring optimism back to the area.
“If the school opens and it blossoms and it thrives, that’s just going to be the biggest thing that really helps the community,” Blake said. “Having the school as an option is really going to help bring families back to the neighborhood, which is what the neighborhood needs.
“I really think it’s going to leave a lasting impact on the neighborhood for generations to come.”
