Green High School. Green Middle School. Green Primary School.
All of those names sound familiar to students and families across the City of Green. But Green Elementary School? That is new.
In 2022, inspections were done across multiple buildings in Green. These inspections are required by the State of Ohio to make sure districts maintain their buildings. In response, the state recommended that Green Local Schools should design and rebuild a few of their schools. So, administrators decided to tear down the three oldest buildings: the Middle school, the Intermediate, and Greenwood Early Learning Center. In their place, a new middle school and elementary school would be built.
“There had been multiple issues across the years,” said Julie McMahan, the Coordinator of Communication, Community Relations and Student Wellness. “So, we thought the time [to rebuild] was now.”
The school district immediately got to work and partnered with Hammond Construction and SoL Harris/Day Architecture, to design two new school buildings for Green. Working closely alongside the district, the two companies were able to produce a plan for the new schools in November of 2022, just a few months after design had started.
A lot of effort went into the project. The entire building had to be planned before construction could start, everything from wall colors to furniture to safety precautions. However, staff across the district stepped up and provided helpful ideas on the layout of the schools, so the architects had a lot of guidance.
“The design [of the schools had] a lot of input from the administration, principles and key teachers,” said Andrew Lallathin, the project architect for Green Middle School and the Community Courts from SoL Harris/Day Architecture.
Immediately after the plans were finished, the construction company got to work, and over the summer, they built structures at both the middle school and elementary school sites. They started off just as wooden frames earlier in the summer, but by the time the 2024 school year started, Hammer Construction had finished the foundation.
Every day during the work week, construction workers commute to the building sites, and put in the work to stay on target to finish the schools before the 2025 school year.
“Currently, there are [about] 50 workers [at each site],” says Derrick Semiia, the Senior Project Manager at Hammer Construction. “We anticipate ramping up to 80-90 workers by the end of the year.
Citizens around the city of Green are all aware of the immense progress that is being made on the buildings. However, as with every large community project like this, there are always some things that could be improved. The new middle school is being built directly between the current intermediate and middle schools. Daily traffic consists of parents and buses dropping students off at these buildings. In addition, these schools are operating as they usually would during the school year, with teaching and learning going on throughout the entire day.
This causes some problems for the builders because they have to figure out a way to build an entirely new building in between two currently operating school buildings with busy environments.
“It was pretty challenging in the sense that both sites have functioning buildings. We’re building behind two active schools, so logistically we had a lot to work around,” Lallathin said.
However, the construction workers can work around the slight problem and actively manage any issue that pops up. So far, everything is going just as planned and the new buildings are on schedule.
“To have new buildings is just so exciting. Here in Green, we pride ourselves on everything we do, [and building new schools] looks good and feels good,” McMahan said. “I am super excited for our staff and kids.”
The new schools will open right before the 2025 school year.
