It’s hard to believe we are approaching the first anniversary of the opening of our new Larson Middle School, and in a few months we will be welcoming students into our renovated Grandview Heights High School.

We are thankful for the community’s continued support of our Master Facilities Plan, where we are Honoring Tradition, Building Excellence.

Your support will serve students for generations to come. These modern learning environments will ensure our students are prepared for the 21st-century workforce, military and higher education settings. Because of careful planning, we remain on time, on budget and on quality with these projects.

In a continued effort to evaluate our facilities, we have been working with the architecture firm of Perkins & Will to assess our K-12 athletic complex. We recently wrapped up master planning workshops with key stakeholders and have held three community meetings where we gathered invaluable feedback on how to improve the safety of our complex as well as meet the needs of our students and the community. Video recordings of these meetings can be found on our website at ghschools.org. 

We are exploring four options, all of which zero in on improving safety, creating a more equitable facility and increasing efficiencies for a more robust student and spectator experience.  

At Grandview Heights Schools, extracurricular activities such as sports and band are an integral part of the overall educational experience for students.  Experiences outside of the classroom help build social, emotional, and leadership skills and promote well-being. Additionally, the K-12 athletic complex is used for classroom instruction, summer camps and events such as band concerts, homecoming and, at times, graduation, making it a central hub within our community.  

We plan to present our findings during the Sept. 14 board of education meeting.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our workshops and community meetings and to those who have reached out to share their comments and/or suggestions. 

You can learn more about this important work at ghschools.org. Together, we will continue to build the educational opportunities and environments that our students need to thrive and succeed.

Andy Culp is Superintendent of Grandview Heights Schools.