Community gets latest look at Brunswick Schools’ building project

BRUNSWICK, Ohio — With the anticipated opening of the new Brunswick High School building in the 2026-2027 school year, the community had an opportunity Oct. 17 to meet the construction team spearheading the project.

In May, voters supported a 36-year, $102 million bond issue to construct the new high school, including a 1,000-seat performing arts center, multipurpose athletic field with synthetic turf, tennis courts and a full-sized baseball field; additional classrooms and site improvements at Applewood and Kidder Elementary schools; a new maintenance facility and board of education office at the site of the current Willet’s Middle School, 1045 Hadcock Road; and the demolitions of the current Willetts, Brunswick High School and Towslee Elementary School buildings.

The project is being funded in part by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC), which is covering 39 percent, or $42.6 million of the new high school. The OFCC determined the cost of renovating and upgrading the high school building to meet OFCC standards exceeded 66 percent of the cost of constructing a new facility. As a result, the OFCC would only provide funding for new construction.

At the Oct. 17 meeting, representatives from the construction team including Scott Alleman, architect with ThenDesign Architecture (TDA) and project manager; Claire Bank, educational designer for TDA ; Ryan Caswell, communications director for TDA; and Kim Adams, community engagement manager for Hammond Construction, gave an overview of the project, including district goals, project scope, project process and community engagement.

Alleman called the latter component of the project one of its most crucial, with a community “visioning session” held Sept. 30 and monthly construction update meetings, continued engagement through social media and a new construction-update page on the district website at bcoh.org.

The first phase of the project includes the demolition of the Willetts and Towslee buildings, with the additions at Applewood and Kidder, and construction of the the new school board office and maintenance facility construction and the demolition of the existing high school and construction of the new high school – in front of the existing building at 3581 Center Road – to follow.

Superintendent Jason Niedermeyer said the existing high school will continue to be used throughout the construction process, noting that the district’s plan is to “open up to 1,900 to 2,000 students 1,444 days from today.”

“The goal is going to be to get 39 buses on and off the campus [that day] and we hope over the summer [of 2026] to get everybody moved in,” he said.

Alleman said that while the team is not certain of an exact date for the demolition of Towslee, at 3555 Center Road, that will mark the start of the construction project.

Residents at the Oct. 17 meeting asked about the logistics of the Towslee demolition, primarily parking. Alleman said that while some details are still being worked out there will “be plenty of parking” and Excellence Drive will remain open, to bus and other vehicle access, during construction. He added that construction equipment access will be made at the current Towslee entrance.

Residents also asked how close the new high school building would be to Center Road and if the building is expected to be single or multi-story.

Niedermeyer noted the size of the new building accounts for an expected “slow decline” in enrollment in the district over the next several decades, and Alleman said construction calls for “taking advantage of the frontage” on Center Road and “building up,” with the new high school building likely a two-to-three story structure.

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