Update - Central demolition as been targeted for Wednesday, Sept. 26 

The Demolition of Central has been delayed for about two weeks due to continued work moving the utilities. The Champion School District will keep you updated when the demolition and sorting of bricks will begin. 

As soon as the demolition of Champion Elementary School and Champion Middle School concludes, interested community members can retrieve building bricks at those sites. All bricks will have been washed and are available at no cost.

The State of Ohio has allocated billions of dollars for the rebuilding of Ohio Public school district buildings. This funding measure was passed nearly thirty years ago to assist public schools which did not have the financial resources to address aging buildings. The State devised an assessment to evaluate school facilities and put every school district in Ohio on a valuation list. That valuation list ranked every Ohio school district from poorest valuation to highest. The State then developed a ratio to helping co-fund each district facility project. The poorest districts were funded by the State at nearly 90% State dollars with the highest valuation districts to receive a very modest portion of State help.  

When Champion Schools became eligible several years ago to take part in the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission Project for funding new schools, the State assistance was 57% of the overall cost for rebuilding the Champion School facilities. Each Champion School building was assessed by the OFCC and ranked by degree of condition. Central Elementary and Champion Middle School received very low ratings by the State. Thus the State recommended both of these buildings be torn down and rebuilt.  

In accepting the State’s offer of co-funding for new school buildings the District must comply with the OFCC mandates. Also in accepting the State money the District must comply with the size and options for new buildings. If a district wanted more than the State program permits, the local district would be held responsible for funding those options with its own dollars- no State help. 

As such Champion Schools have two new schools at a total cost of $ 31 million dollars with the State paying $ 17 million of that total cost. The State mandates demolition of any school building it is co- funding.

The first step is the abatement process which is the removal and disposal of identified asbestos containing materials prior to manual demolition of the buildings. Asbestos abatement is currently underway at both schools with an EPA licensed asbestos abatement contractor and certified workers. Work is being managed on behalf of the district by MCM Services and their EPA certified staff. Identified asbestos containing materials are being removed of in accordance with local, state and federal regulations governing this work. Work practices include using trained and certified workers, removing materials under negative pressure containment procedures to contain the removal process and promptly disposing of sealed and bagged debris for disposal at an approved landfill. These work practices are monitored by trained and licensed staff. The district has chosen to remove all identified asbestos containing materials prior to demolition to eliminate asbestos hazards or asbestos exposure for the project site and surrounding area.  

Now that the abatement process at Central is complete, the demolition projects starts. Demolition involves using manual methods. The demolition process will be managed by Hammond Construction site staff to ensure compliance with local, state and federal regulations governing this work. Champion Middle School’s demolition will start soon after the Central Elementary building is down. 

Hammond will ensure that work practices are put in place to minimize dust during the demolition process. This includes wetting the demolition debris during demolition and prior to loading debris into the trucks for disposal. Once all debris is removed from the site, the area will be backfilled and seeded for grass.  

You are welcome to call Mrs. Hood, Superintendent at 330-847-2330 should you have any questions. 

As soon as the September demolition of Champion Elementary School and Champion Middle School concludes, interested community members can retrieve building bricks at those sites. All bricks will have been washed and are available at no cost.  

CONSTRUCTION REPORT

• Grading/seeding completed July

• Classroom furniture in place

• Ceilings completed

• Flooring completed

• Mechanical work completed 

• Curbing and Paving completed 

• Air Quality Testing on July 28

• Thermal Imagining of roofs done-no issues 

• Elevator final inspection July

PREPPING for DEMOLITION CES/CMS BUILDINGS 

• Auction of CES/CMS school Items completed

• Safety fencing around CES/CMS building in July

• Abatement CES-CMS building -July/August

DEMOLITION TIME SCHEDULE

• Demolition of CES/CMS schools buildings first WEEK of September

Construction priorities moves to building interior; windows and doors sealed; interior of building heated so interior work can begin.

Interior installation begins: flooring, ceilings, drywall, lighting, and classroom cabinetry installations; as well as painting, playground installation, landscaping and seeding

 Softball and baseball fields completed

 Public Tour of PK-8 School Building 4:00-7:00 P.M. (view progress since Oct. Tours)

• Open House-School Tours of Central Elementary /Champion Middle School 3:30 to 6:00P.M.  

• Farewell Ceremony for Central Elementary/ Champion Middle School at 6:00 – 7:15 on Central’s front lawn 

• Asphalting of PK-8 parking lots/driveways AND tear out and installation of new asphalt driveways and parking lots for CHS campus

• Removal of Central Elementary cap stones -to be re- installed in new PK-8 building

• Teacher materials removed from Central/CMS into storage –held until moved into PK-8 building. 

• Auctioning of Central/ Middle School Items-advertised to community

• Abatement of Central /Middle School

• Dedication Ceremony of New PK-8 –6:00 P.M. Program followed by OPEN HOUSE TOUR of new PK-8 Building

• Demolition of Central and CMS-grading of the sites and seeding