The new buildings replace school facilities built between 1925-1957.
Photo by Mike Morris, Director of Facilities and Communications.
(Harrison, Oh.) – Southwest Local School District is celebrating the opening of new facilities.
On Sunday, the school district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new Crosby Elementary, Harrison Elementary, Miami Whitewater Elementary, and Harrison Junior schools.
Co-funded by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, the new facilities will replace school facilities built between 1925-1957.
The “Facilities for the Future” project has been years in the making, and was planned and designed with parent, student, teacher, and community involvement.
"The feeling is pure excitement. Sunday was the culmination of years of hard work by a lot of people to make this happen. All the way from passing the levy to designing the buildings and now opening them," said Mike Morris, Director of Facilities and Communication.
The new schools will provide a modern learning environment for students in grades pre-K through 8. Morris says the most noticeable change will be air conditioning.
"The old schools that are being replaced did not have air conditioning. That was just brutal for kids trying to learn in an environment where they are sweating," added Morris.
Beyond that, the new schools are built for the 21st century with technological updates, and more classroom flexibility, as compared to the traditional classroom settings at the old schools.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony on Sunday, several students had the opportunity to see their new schools.
"Seeing the kids when they got to go into their school for the first time, they are looking around wide-eyed, smiling, high-fiving. It was a pretty cool thing to see. These kids have two more weeks of summer, but to see them walk through their classes you can tell they are ready to get the year started right now."
Classes will begin on Tuesday, August 17.
Additional upgrades are being completed at Harrison High School.
Improvements include Science lab renovations to meet modern laboratory standards, electrical upgrades, air conditioning in the gym and locker rooms, energy efficiency upgrades, replacing aging electric switch gear, and fire protection system upgrade.
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