BY KYLEE BARANEK
The beloved Central Intermediate School, which stands in the center of downtown Wadsworth, may just be rebuilt somewhere else in Wadsworth.
CIS was built in 1907 and accommodates Wadsworth students in grades 5 and 6. The building may be aged but it is cared for by many, including the forty men and women working on the CIS Committee.
The CIS Committee is working on a project entitled the Strategic Plan 2016-2020. This five year plan specifies many things the committee wants to accomplish in order to make Central Intermediate School the very best it can be. It includes two main goals; one, to create an inclusive curriculum that will help prepare the students for their life in the twenty-first century, and two, perfect the school so it will help better prepare the students.
One of the committee’s underlying goals is to create a proposal they can present to the Board of Education. The current proposal will ask to rebuild the building rather then renovate it. This rebuilding would cost an estimate of 24 million dollars. While the commitee has met to discuss this idea, nothing has been proposed to the Board of Education.
The committee has made this decision of rebuilding based on many factors. One of first things the committee did was commission a company to complete a detailed study of the building. The results were submitting May 2017, and showed that it would be “more efficient to just build a new building rather than renovate,” said Dr. Hill. The renovation was estimated to cost 21.5 million dollars.
“It always comes down to the facts, or what makes sense as we look at these facts,” said Dr. Hill. These facts include the growth of the district overall and fact that they state may help finance a rebuild, but not a renovation.
Mrs. Joanne Gahan, the principal of Central Intermediate School, mentioned that the other recommendation the committee is looking at, but has not formally proposed to the board, is the idea of keeping fifth and sixth grades in the same school building no matter what occurs with the old building. This means that nothing will change in terms of where students go to school after renovations or a rebuilding has occured. Both Mrs. Gahan and the committee felt it is important to keep the two grades in their own building.
The final question that is currently being discussed within the committee is the question of what will be done with the existing building if the board approves the committee’s proposal of rebuilding.
After being questioned if the building would be rebuilt in the same spot, Mrs. Gahan said, “It’s not likely that it would be. No decision has been made. It is just in committee.”
The commitee has not yet found a solution to this problem.
There are also many other factors to consider as well when discussing if a new building will be in the same spot after being rebuilt. The current building is not in the best location as of now. It is in downtown, with a large amount of traffic. This could lead to possible dangers during the mornings and afternoons. The commitee must take these factors into account.
The main thing to remember is that no decisions have been officially made. The committee says they will insure that CIS will be a safe place and a wonderful learning environment for students today and in the years to come.
