Last week, the Dayton City Commission voted in favor of a zoning map amendment that will allow a local nonprofit to build a $35 million private school along the river in downtown Dayton. The Greater Dayton School is a project of local real estate investor Larry Connor, and is intended to serve disadvantaged students from pre-K through 8th grade.
Jyllian Bradshaw is a Dayton-based lawyer specializing in education law. At last week’s commission meeting she said the school will be able to address systemic and legislative challenges students face better than public schools can.
This school will be unencumbered for one purpose: the child comes first," said Bradshaw, "Everything else and everyone else comes second.”
Charlotte McGuire is the District 3 representative for the Ohio Board of Education. She said the school will provide resources to children who wouldn’t have access otherwise.
“This is not to create competition, it’s to create options and opportunities that some children may never have,” said McGuire.
In addition to the school building, the property will include a clinic and sports fields accessible to the public outside of school hours.