The Board of Education hosted representatives from Regency Construction during its July 6th work session. All four of the NRCBS co-chairs were present at the meeting.

John Sanner from Regency detailed the “flow” of the bond process and provided details on how the Ohio School Facilities Commission handles projects like North Ridgeville is considering.  Sanner made it clear community involvement is an important part of the process. He also warned against putting the proverbial cart before the horse.   There have been several newspaper articles written since the July 6th meeting which hinted at a May 2011 bond initiative.  Although that certainly is not out of the question, it’s WAY too early in the process for the board to firmly commit to that date.

The first step in the process is to have the district’s facilities assessed which Superintendent Craig Phillips immediately requested.  OSFC did agree to assess ALL of the district’s buildings and that process is currently happening.  The assessments should be finished shortly. The OSFC should have a report of their conclusions finalized sometime in September.  Once received, the next part of the planning process begins.  The BOE and district are under the assumption that OSFC will indeed recommend some type of structural additions and/or improvements for the district so the process of seeking out architectural firms to handle any upcoming projects is beginning.

At this time, there is no firm plan in place for new buildings.  Everything is on the table (pending OSFC’s recommendations) including shared use facilities, a district campus, new individual buildings or simply additions/renovations to our current buildings.  So, based upon what we’ve seen and heard so far it sounds like things will really get rolling here in another month or so!