Q1:   What is the Building Program?
A: The Building Program describes what is planned for each of the District’s schools (renovation, replacement or consolidation), and outlines when the work will be performed.

Q2:   How is the State of Ohio involved in the Building Program?
A: The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) provides funding, management oversight and technical assistance to school districts for construction and renovation of school facilities. The OSFC is a partner with the District. As a partner, it has worked with the District to provide professional evaluations of current facilities, helped prepare the existing Facilities Plan and assisted with implementation of the Plan. The OSFC provides 68% of the funding for the Building Program, and has co-approval responsibilities with the District on all design and construction contracts.

Q3:   What is eligible to receive matching funds from the State of Ohio?
A: Through the OSFC Accelerated Urban Program, matching funds are limited to those work/project items that relate to improving the classroom space of the District. This includes any design fees associated with renovating or replacing a building. Also eligible is gym and cafeteria space, security and technology infrastructure and playground equipment.

Q4:    What are Locally Funded Initiatives?
A: Locally Funded Initiatives (LFIs) are programs and/or work not funded by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. These programs must be funded 100% by the District and/or other sources. Examples include renovation or construction of fixed-seating auditoriums, athletic fields, land acquisition, indoor running tracks, swimming pools and community outreach programs. 

Q5:  What factors helped determine whether a building is scheduled for renovation, replacement or consolidation?
A: Although the analysis is complex, the basic factors include the general building condition (as determined by the OSFC assessment), the suitability of the building for educational purposes (based on OSFC Design Manual standards and the District’s educational goals) and the geographic proximity of the building to the homes of District students. 

Q6:    What are enrollment projections?
A: Enrollment projections are forecasts of how many children will be attending District schools in the future. Enrollment projections are required by the OSFC and figure prominently in the development of the Building Program. These projections help determine the number and size of schools needed in the future Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Q7:    What is the Ohio School Design Manual?
A: The Ohio School Design Manual is an approximately 2,200-page book that outlines OSFC requirements for all renovation and replacement work under the Building Program. It provides a variety of options in the design of buildings. The emphasis is on classroom space and standardization across the State. The manual helps District design professionals establish building size and educational program configurations. It also sets standards for equipment, systems and materials used in building design and construction.

Q8:    What is the Design Process?
A: The design process involves four distinct phases. In order, those phases are the Program of Requirements (POR) phase, the Schematic Design phase, the Design Document phase and the Construction Document phase. The first phase outlines the academic needs for each school. Based on the Design Manual and academic needs, the architects develop a Program of Requirements, or POR. The POR provides a list of academic, program and support space requirements that must match the approved Facilities Plan square footage for the building. During the next phase, Schematic Designs are drawn. These designs illustrate the scale of the building, showing locations and spatial relationships involving the educational programming, how the building will fit on the intended site, the location of playgrounds and the overall look of the building. The next phase, Design Development, defines the character of the building. Interior design, specific mechanical equipment and systems to be used as well as colors, forms and furnishings are all part of Design Development. The final phase requires Construction Documentation. This provides the details needed to actually construct the facility and helps contractors submit accurate construction bids.

Q9:    What is swing space?
A: Temporary space available for students and staff while a building is being renovated or constructed. Swing space can be inside another building, or space within the same school. Some school renovations and replacements will not require swing space.

Q10: What measures are in place to assure that schools are built on time and within budget?
A: The District's Facilities staff, the Owner's Representative, Construction Manager and various State (OSFC) officials are in constant contact, reviewing project schedules and status and budget reports. The state is fully committed to close monitoring of the project, in part because Ohio is providing more than 2/3rd's of the funding. In addition, the Board of Education receives regular updates and reports concerning the progress of work at individual schools. Board of Education meetings are open to the public.

Q11: How can parents and neighbors become involved in the planning and design of schools to be renovated/replaced?
A: Regular core group and community meetings begin for each school during the segment when work is set to begin on the school and continue until work on the school is completed. Core group and community meetings offer opportunities for parents, neighbors and school communities to guide the design of new and renovated buildings. To learn more about how you can become involved, contact Community Engagement Specialist, Lee Fields at (216) 574-8065.

Q12. How will the community be involved in the design of the schools?
A: The Board and District administration are committed to involving the school community in the design of the new or renovated schools.  The architects for your school will organize several meetings with the community to discuss the design and to receive community input.

Q13. What will be the educational enhancements of the new schools?
A: The New Schools will have:

• Pre-K classroom space

• Wireless microphones and speakers in the classrooms

• Computers integrated with overhead projectors

•  Art Classrooms

• Music Classrooms

• Two playgrounds

• Separation of bus and parent traffic

• Improved Site Logistics

• Compliance with Jarrod’s Law (school safety)

• Video monitoring of campus .

Q14. How will community use be accommodated in the new school?
A: Schools are designed to allow after hour use of Gym, stage and cafeteria.  Playgrounds will be available for community use.

Q15. How will you design “Green” schools?
A: The Ohio School Design Manual utilizes environmentally conscious design including ample windows in classrooms.  The Ohio School Facilities Commission recently created a requirement for all schools to meet the Silver standard for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).  The District is currently implementing the Silver standard for five schools.  Those schools will utilize geothermal heating and cooling systems and other environmentally friendly design elements. 

Q16. How will you create a diverse workforce on the projects?
A: The District must competitively bid contracts over $50,000 and then evaluate the lowest responsible bidder. As part of each bid review, the District reviews the good faith efforts of each low bidder to subcontract with disadvantage business enterprises and female business enterprises.  The District also monitors the workforce of bidders for good efforts to diversify their workforces. 

Q17. What will happen to the old schools?
A: In most instances the new school is being rebuilt on the site of the old school.  In some circumstances, where the new school is being relocated to another site, the Board will make a case by case determination.  The Ohio School Facilities Commission co-funds demolition of all old schools.  However, the Board has not made any final decisions on which schools will be demolished. 

Q18. What is the timeline for construction of the new school?
A: As a general matter, elementary schools take one year to design and prepare construction documents and 14 – 16 months to construct.  High Schools will take 18 months to design and 24 months to construct.  Renovations will vary depending on the amount of work. 

Q19. What is the plan for the students during construction?
A: The District has a plan to keep all the students together and to relocate the entire school to a nearby “swing” school.  We ask that you be patient during this process as we all need to work together to ensure a smooth transition.

Q20. Will the name of the school change?
A: The Board and Administration recognize the importance of history and that a community identifies with its school.  There are no plans to change any school name or other unique school identifiers.   Architects frequently incorporate school mascots and color schemes where appropriate into the new school. 

Q21. If my school is not in the Master Facilities Plan, what will happen to it?
A: The Board and Administration have committed that as long as operating funds remain constant, no schools are closing for at least two years.  The District has designated many schools to be maintained for an indefinite period of time.

Q22. Will the community be able to salvage any parts of the old school before it is demolished?
A: As governed by policies of the board and laws of Ohio the District will organize public sales of surplus materials for purchase by the community on a District-wide and periodic basis.       

Q23. When is the deadline for input from community residents?
A: Community input is critical during the pre-design and schematic design phases. Once the designers enter into the design development phase, the need for community input will diminish. Each project has a specific timeline schedule and budget, for which the Architect's are accountable to the co-owners (CMSD and OSFC -Ohio School Facilities Commission). In addition, the Architects must meet the design criteria of the City of Cleveland Planning Commission. More community meetings will be held in the early design phases (than in later phases) to ensure ample dialogue to get the design finalized before significant detailed design work begins in the Design Development Phase. The Architect will notify all community participants and the co-owners when the project has reached the point changes can no longer be made due to budget and/or schedule constraints.

The phase chronology is:

• Pre-design and Program of Requirements (POR) Phase.

• Schematic Design Phase.

• Design Development Phase

• Construction Document Preparation and Bidding Phase

• Building Construction Phase