Kettering City School District leaders want community input on the future of its buildings.
They will hold a public meeting for parents, students and other community stakeholders at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 20, 2025. It will be in the recital hall of Fairmont High School on Shroyer Road.
During the meeting, administrators will explain a recent comprehensive study done by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. For about two years, it reviewed all 11 buildings in the district. The oldest is Van Buren Middle School — it went up in 1949. Others were built in the '50s and '60s.
The state commission recommends tearing down and building 10 new buildings, including Van Buren.
New schools will make the district more efficient, Superintendent Mindy McCarty-Stewart said.
"Think about your HVAC systems and those types of things, your roofing, your chillers, your natural lighting, and all those things in terms of from where we've started in 1949 and the 1960s to what they have done," McCarty-Stewart said. "We can create those facilities for some rural operational efficiencies."
According to McCarty-Stewart, new buildings will also enable the district to build space efficient schools that better fit the student population of around 7,500. The district has 498 classified personnel, which includes bus drivers, clerical, food service and maintenance. It has 659 certified teachers and licensed counselors.
The estimated cost to build 10 new buildings is $406 million. The state would contribute 43%, almost $175 million. The community would have to cover the rest.
According to McCarty-Stewart, the district will put a levy on the May 2026 ballot for the proposed new construction.
It'll take a year to design several new buildings and about two years to build the first buildings, which would be 2029 at the earliest.
