Sixth graders are housed in the middle school wing but follow the elementary school schedule, since that’s how they started the year. About 1,860 students attend Valley View schools.
In 2020, 57% of Valley View voters approved a 0.5% income tax and 5.5 mills bond issue, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, which oversees new school construction and contributes significant financial capital to new school buildings, provided about $41.6 million to build it.
Bond requests for new buildings were voted down in contentious 2016 and 2017 elections.
Initially, the district expected to spend about $68 million on the new building. Valley View treasurer Valorie Hill said the increased cost was due to inflation. To make up the difference, the district entered into a lease purchase agreement for $7 million and worked to decrease costs by about $3 million.
Hill said any further cuts would have required the building to be redesigned, which would have meant a delay and more money, since inflation continued to rise.
“We are very pleased with the building and excited for our students and staff to be able to work in such a wonderful environment,” Hill said.
Valley View chose an open, flexible layout in its building. Classrooms have windows both to the outside and to the hall.
Two of Valley View’s school buildings are about 100 years old, another was built in 1950, and the high school in 1968. Kathie Lucas, the district’s spokeswoman, said the primary building will be razed from a driveway between the primary and intermediate building to Farmersville Pike. The intermediate building in Germantown could be auctioned, transferred to a municipality, or kept.
“The district is working to obtain a grant for abatement and demolition of the Farmersville building,” Lucas said, referring to the junior high building. “Once the building has been demolished, we will work on the next steps regarding this land asset.”
The old high school building is expected to be remodeled and used as the board of education office and a preschool.
Teachers who recently moved into the new building said the space is a big improvement.
Michele Hodson, a special education teacher, asked for a dedicated space for special education students to sell coffee to teachers and students. Hodson said the students are paid and able to graduate with a resume they can use as they go into the workforce.
The students serve the coffee and snacks directly to customers, use money to purchase snacks, use punch cards and learn how to interact with others.
“We had it at the old building, but the new building is a lot more realistic,” she said.
William Heistand, a physical science teacher, said the new space for his freshman science class is much better set up than his former space. The old classroom had stairs in the middle and wasn’t a dedicated science lab, he said. The new space has running water, desks that can be moved together for the students to use and more.
“I do a lot of hands-on stuff, so this new space is really helpful,” he said.
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