A project to build a new school in Akron’s Kenmore neighborhood is moving forward again, after a vote by the Akron Board of Education Monday.
Questions remain about the full cost of the project, meant to replace Pfeiffer Elementary School and the Miller South School for the Performing Arts. The board had initially approved the project in 2023 at a cost of $63 million, but after delays and inflation, the project cost increased by about $13 million, causing the district to reexamine whether it could actually complete it due to budget challenges.
However, officials said Monday the total cost of the project, to be built on the former Kenmore High School site, will be reduced through “value engineering,” a concept involving the district’s administration working with the architect to reduce the scope of the project to save money. The resolution approved by the board does not state how much the district hopes to save through this method.
Most of the cost savings would be achieved by reducing the square footage of the building, largely by cutting out extra storage space and 250 seats from the auditorium, officials told the board during a June 16 finance meeting.
The district is also awaiting a final decision from a joint review committee, which includes officials from the school district and city of Akron, that could provide up to $18 million leftover from a tax levied over the last two decades.
Board member Summer Hall voted in favor of the project along with the entire board, but she noted the district doesn’t have the commitment from the committee to close the funding gap yet.
“We don’t have anything in writing saying that money is ours,” she said.
Eleni Manousogiannakis, executive director of the Better Kenmore Community Development Corporation, gave the board kudos for moving forward with the project. Kenmore students, staff and residents protested in early June against the district possibly going back on its word. Residents have long advocated for a new building in the neighborhood after years of schools being closed due to declining enrollment.
"Thank you for your public, voiced and expressed commitment to the project as planned, building both Miller South and Pfeiffer on the former Kenmore High School site," she said.
Delays with the project mean completion of construction will be pushed back by a year, until August 2028.
Public records questions
The board voted 4 to 2, with one abstention, to approve a resolution that would waive attorney-client privilege to release a memo as a result of a public records request. The vote concerned a legal memo that was released to the media in mid-April about how the board was going to approach parting with then Superintendent Michael Robinson. The resolution shows that, through a review of public records, Board Member Gregory Harrison shared the memo with Signal Akron.
Board Chair Carla Jackson has previously said the release of the memo, which she argued was protected by attorney-client privilege, harmed the district's position in legal negotiations and forced it to pay out more money to Robinson, about $300,000
Harrison, who abstained from voting, said the resolution felt like a "shot" at him. He said he mistakenly sent the memo to the journalist in question, not realizing it wasn't a public record. He said he informed the district's legal counsel at the time.
"It reads as a nefarious act," Harrison said.
Jackson, who introduced the resolution, said the resolution was not an attack on Harrison. She said the district's legal counsel that handles records requests asked for the resolution to be approved in order to release the memo along with other records that had been requested recently. She said the attorney's interpretation of state law was that the entire board needs to vote to waive attorney-client privilege in order for a privileged document to be released. Board Member Barbara Sykes said she did not agree with that interpretation of the law.
She said the board continues to drag disputes unnecessarily into the public eye, arguing the discussion could have happened in a closed-door executive session.
"I am very disappointed that this has ended up on our agenda and that we're doing this to another board member," Sykes said.
