Issue 73: Our Students. Our Communities. Our Time.

Parma Center Campus Rendering

We have welcomed our students back to school through both distance and in-person learning as we begin the 2020-2021 school year. We hope that our communities continue to become healthier so that we can return to the closest version of “normal” that we will be able to create as we emerge from our COVID era!

Issue 73 Builds New Schools and Community Center for Residents

We are also excited to present Issue 73 to our community. Passage of Issue 73 will allow us to consolidate our secondary campuses from six to two, right-sizing the district for generations to come. If the communities support Issue 73, we will:

  • Build two new secondary campuses at the Normandy and Valley Forge sites, each with one school for grades 6-8 and one for 9-12

  • Transform Parma Senior High School into a Community Educational and Wellness Center with recreational and arts facilities open for community use

  • Expand our existing partnerships with Cuyahoga Community College, for construction of a STEM lab, and University Hospitals, for a wellness hub

  • Save over $1 Million in operating costs per year through consolidation of our campuses

  • Take advantage of a $69 million Ohio Facilities Construction Commission contribution

You Spoke. We Listened. 

We formed our Master Plan through 24 community meetings during 2019 and we are now hopeful for voter support. Our youngest operating school, Normandy, opened during the Lyndon Johnson administration. Maintenance of our aging facilities increases every year; we have spent $5.4 million since 2015 alone simply to keep our schools warm, safe and dry. In recent years, the state has invested $12.1 billion in the construction of new schools, none of it in Parma. It’s our time to reinvest in our students, providing the same new technology and updated environments that their peers in neighboring communities enjoy. It’s our time to invest in our communities, keeping them desirable places to start and raise families. And, it’s our time to claim our share of the OFCC funding that has gone elsewhere for decades. We hope you will consider Issue 73 on November 3, 2020!

Charles Smialek

Superintendent of the Parma City School District

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Volume 12, Issue 10, Posted 11:59 PM, 09.30.2020