LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

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Since 2004

Tag: Loveland stakeholders

  • We’re Building Tiger Nation, Together

    We’re Building Tiger Nation, Together

    An update on the Loveland City School District Facility Master Plan

    By Dr. Amy Crouse, Loveland City School District Superintendent

    The Loveland community has once again come together for the benefit of its students: on January 23, more than 150 members of the general public and school community gathered at the third Building Tiger Nation community meeting, where the district shared the latest information on the progress of the Loveland Schools facility master planning. The architects, with whom we have worked closely for the past year in assessing our buildings and how they serve our students and staff, presented the first options for a new district facility master plan.

    In addition, the Loveland Board of Education has discussed proceeding with investigations into the possible acquisition of land for construction, which brings with it new potential in this process.It allows us to potentially make possible what currently is not: creating the spaces we need to accommodate not only our current students and programs, but also the growing population of students that are projected to enroll in our schools over the next decade. It also allows us to realistically contemplate adding spaces that are specifically dedicated to science, technology, engineering, math and arts programs, which we so desperately need and are critical to the future success of our students.

    Our top priority is to advance the mission of student learning and growth, and to improve the physical environment for the students and staff while continuing to be fiscally responsible. With this in mind, we are grateful for the involvement of the community in the decisions we will be making in the months to come.

    We have worked hard to make the facility master planning process transparent and accessible to all Loveland stakeholders. We want everyone to be informed and engaged, providing feedback and posing questions as they arise. As we continue with our master planning process into the spring, we want to hear from you. There will be opportunities to voice opinions and concerns as we evaluate, prioritize and finalize the recommendation that will be presented to the Loveland Board of Education, likely in April. The Building Tiger Nation Finance Committee continues to hold its monthly meetings, open to the public, and will be adding more meetings to the calendar as the work intensifies to develop a financing recommendation that will be presented to the board along with the facility master plan recommendation.

    I appreciate the support of this amazing community, which understands the needs of its students and values the public schools as an integral part of Loveland’s success.

    In service to our Tigers.

    More information on Building Tiger Nation is available on www.buildingtigernation.org

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  • Building Tiger Nation facilities master planning moves on to phase two

    Building Tiger Nation facilities master planning moves on to phase two

    At Community Meeting #2 on November 28, students shared their needs as they relate to the Loveland Schools facilities.

    A ballot issue is expected in November 2019.

    Community Meeting #3 is on January 23

    A news release from the Loveland School District

    On November 28, the Loveland City School District held the second Building Tiger Nation Community Meeting, with over 100 members of the Tiger Family and greater Loveland community in attendance. In a presentation of the results of the educational facility evaluation conducted over the past six months, a panel of students and teachers shared their personal experiences regarding the implications of the current school facilities on teaching and learning at Loveland.

    “It was very powerful to hear directly from the ‘experts’ on their impressions and experiences, and see the correlation to the hard data collected during the evaluation process,” said Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse. “Some of the needs we heard about are recurring themes throughout the district, while others are specific to certain building and campuses. Taking into account enrollment projections and the fact that we can’t provide all the programming we wish to due to space limitations today, our buildings compromise our students’ educational needs.”

    Community members toured the “gallery” and learned about specific needs in the various school buildings.

    The educational facility evaluation, which has been part of the assessment phase in the master planning process, focused on five main areas and how the school facilities currently perform in each: whether there is adequate academic square footage; building navigation (taking into account hallways, circulation spaces within the buildings, as well as parking and traffic patterns); the potential for expansion of buildings at the various campuses; how the buildings serve students and staff in terms of health and wellness; and whether the buildings and learning spaces are inspirational and relevant for today’s students.

    “It’s like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole,” said Cincy Rack, third grade teacher at Loveland Elementary School. “The biggest, single challenge every year is ‘how am I going to make my space work?’”

    Loveland High School Sophomore Anna Colletto spoke of navigation issues and a particularly difficult area in the overcrowded hallways: “Students trying to get upstairs are struggling, students trying to get to their classes are struggling, and students trying to get into their lockers are struggling. It takes two to three minutes just to get through that portion of the hallway, which takes up our five-minute break to get to the next class.”

    The meeting was the second in a series to inform the Loveland community about the facilities master planning process since the start of the 2018-19 school year. Finance Committee meetings, open to the public, continue to be held monthly. The master planning process now moves from the assessment phase on to the translation phase, and the first options for a master plan will be developed over the coming weeks. They will be presented to all Loveland stakeholders at Community Meeting #3 on January 23, and will then be evaluated, prioritized, and finalized. The master plan, along with financing suggestions, will be presented to the Loveland Board of Education in spring, likely April or May. A ballot issue is expected in November 2019.

    For more information, please visit www.buildingtigernation.org.

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