The Weinland Park community has something to cheer about.
The Weinland Park Elementary School on East Seventh Avenue is scheduled to be closed and demolished at the end of this school year. A new elementary school will be built for the community on the same site.
The new-school construction is on the same timeline as the child day care center to be built in Weinland Park for the department of human ecology at Ohio State.
“Right now we mirror the same construction timeline of the new elementary school opening in September 2006,” said Andrea Bowlin, project director for the Early Childhood Center at Weinland Park. “We realized their schedule, and it was just natural to coordinate their project, ours and park renovations to revitalize the area.”
The Weinland Park Elementary students, kindergarten through fifth grade, will be moved to Hudson Elementary during the construction.
The Hudson Elementary School will be empty under proposed budget cuts submitted by Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris. Harris said in her superintendent’s report Tuesday that preliminary cuts for the fiscal year in 2005 amount to $83.6 million. Under the proposed plan, 919 employees would be cut including 302 full-time teachers and 122 instructional aides.
Students at Hudson Elementary School will be consolidated with the new Linden Elementary School. Hudson students also will be offered the option of attending Hamilton Elementary School.
“Our new school will still be a two-story building as is our current school,” said Barbara Blake, principal of Weinland Park Elementary. “We will have separate rooms for our art, music and physical education classes.”
Parents will have designated drop-off and pick-up spots for their children. The gymnasium will have more windows allowing in more natural light and many rooms will have a connecting space for tutors, Blake said.
“The Hudson Elementary School building is a bit smaller than our current school but it will not affect class size,” Blake said. “We have known about these plans for a year and a half.”
Students and parents have shared their input with the school and realize the children will have to be moved so the new school can be built on the same site. A bus service will be in place to transport kids to Hudson Elementary, Blake said.
“We are very excited in partnering with Columbus Public Schools and creating a transition from day care to elementary school,” Bowlin said. “A great synergy will be in place between the care center, elementary school and park.”
The OSU Child Care Center will fill one of the voids in the Weinland Park area by offering care for infants and toddlers, Bowlin said.
“OSU students will be able to do research and training while observing the kids move toward elementary school,” Bowlin said. “Plus, the children will be more familiar with the area; being comfortable with your surroundings is a huge part of this transition.”
