The Observation Deck

After a less than enthusiastic response from the Grant parents and residents that had
seen very rough preliminary plans, the architect has sen revised drawings that had been
getting rave revues. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

The pdf
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media/docs_1414622845.pdf

The pages, Grant School Revision 10/28/2014

















The pdf
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media/docs_1414622845.pdf


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Thanks for putting this up so quickly Jim! I missed the meeting, and wanted to see if they made changes. I think it's really great that they are not only asking for input but listening to it.

Amanda Tabor wrote:Thanks for putting this up so quickly Jim! I missed the meeting, and wanted to see if they made changes. I think it's really great that they are not only asking for input but listening to it.

Amanda

My pleasure.

It's let's be honest it will be a tough run. They hurried the drawings so they would have
something to present. Parents were asking for plans, and the schools set up dates, and...
So plans for Grant and Roosevelt were somewhat incomplete as so much attnetion has
been paid to Lincoln.

I also think we should be prepared for some cutbacks, as the Bond issue was put into
motion before the schools so that the current designs represent what can be done TODAY
with the money they have. ALL building projects tend to run over. If we look at Garfield
there was one wall "the community wanted to keep" that added $800,000 to the cost of
the building. Had the parents been told that or, maybe they could have forgot the wall.

Likewise and I know this goes against the norm here in Lakewood. I think it would have
been refreshing to give the designers a blank slate and let them design the best schools
for the future, instead of playing to parents, many of which are hopeless romantics that
want their children going to schools that look like their schools, never mind the cost, never
mind the limitations, and never mind practicality.

I had the pleasure of going through Grant, Lincoln, Roosevelt and LHS sometime ago. The
buildings were old and used up. To be honest those fighting to keep Lincoln and or keep it
looking like Lincoln should be up on child endangerment charges. With the quantum leaps
in technology and teaching I personally would rather have seen the designs come from the
ground up fresh.

But that is just me. I have no children and though I went to McKinley, Horace Mann and
LHS I have very little nostalgic interest that would want me to save any of the old in favor
of the future.

But that is just me.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Amanda Tabor wrote:Thanks for putting this up so quickly Jim! I missed the meeting, and wanted to see if they made changes. I think it's really great that they are not only asking for input but listening to it.

Amanda

My pleasure.

It's let's be honest it will be a tough run. They hurried the drawings so they would have
something to present. Parents were asking for plans, and the schools set up dates, and...
So plans for Grant and Roosevelt were somewhat incomplete as so much attnetion has
been paid to Lincoln.

I also think we should be prepared for some cutbacks, as the Bond issue was put into
motion before the schools so that the current designs represent what can be done TODAY
with the money they have. ALL building projects tend to run over. If we look at Garfield
there was one wall "the community wanted to keep" that added $800,000 to the cost of
the building. Had the parents been told that or, maybe they could have forgot the wall.

.

Jim,

You got me curious. Here are a few documents that were submitted to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Opportunities.aspx) in December of 2013:

http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Documents/OhioReg/Lakewood%20HS%20-%20AE%20RFQ.pdf

http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Documents/OhioReg/Lakewood%20Elementaries%20-%20AE%20RFQ.pdf

"Funding/Estimated Budget" as the primary focus for me.

FWIW.

I was a little surprised that the architects really made very few suggestions, but then I have only been to the community meetings, I would think that in discussions with the schools and administration they would give their own input and findings more than they have at the community meetings.

I have been in Lakewood for 6 years now, and my daughter is in first grade at Grant, so that is the only school I am familiar with. A large part of me feels that anything new is likely to be an improvement, but the discussion here, particularly after considering Sean Wheeler's points, has given me a lot to consider about what a new school really should be and should incorporate. The aesthetics really are the least important detail (and Grant is pretty ugly, so again, anything would be an improvement); I completely get wanting a school that fits in with the neighborhood but I've come to realize that that has dominated too much of the discussion. Focus should be more on what the kids and the teachers and community needs. Some ideas sound really great, but I wonder about the practicality - a garden for teaching kids about growing their own food was an idea floated more than once. Fantastic idea, but with the demands on teachers to cover the curriculum they need to, where does that fit into the day practically? I think as parents and neighbors we might have benefitted more if there were more teachers at the community meetings, so that everybody could understand what is really important and needed. As a parent I know what sounds good to me, but a teacher or the person controlling the budget may not agree; without knowing their thoughts on those things we cannot all be on the same page.