Akron school board members — at a special meeting to clear up confusion about the merging Kenmore and Garfield high schools — voted Monday to temporarily name the new school Kenmore-Garfield.
In a motion that passed 3-2, the board decided on the name to preserve the identities of both schools while the two communities work out a name that fits with their new identity.
Akron City Councilman Mike Freeman, a 1975 Kenmore High graduate, proposed the Kenmore-Garfield name in City Council legislation that he withdrew after the school board vote.
“I guess I would just prefer we wait until all of our meetings are done instead of jumping the gun,” said board member Tim Miller, who was joined by the Rev. Curtis Walker in voting against the name change. The board has at least one more community meeting scheduled for Wednesday at Innes Middle School.
Board member Lisa Mansfield, who voted for the change along with Patrick Bravo and board President Bruce Alexander, said she’d rather see the board make the decision than City Council.
“There’s a lot to merging that isn’t just nuts and bolts: mascots, colors, things that mean a lot when you’re in high school and part of the community,” Mansfield said. “They’re more sentimental and they’re more legacy-linked, so what we want to do is find ways to respect both.”
The board met after community members and some board members expressed confusion over the consolidation at several staff and community meetings held throughout the month.
“I think we’re all on different pages,” Alexander said.
Kenmore and Garfield are being consolidated as part of the district’s ongoing $800 million renovation and construction program that dates back to 2002. By the 2017-2018 school year, nearly 1,100 kids from both schools will be merged in one building.
The original plan was to rebuild and remodel all of Akron’s schools, but declining enrollment forced the district to scale back its plans. The district’s enrollment has dropped from 30,511 in 2002 to 19,126 in 2015.
Akron Public Schools Superintendent David James said both schools will be fully integrated in the new building, sharing sports teams, mascots, curricula and more. He said he won’t know if he’ll have to make staff cuts until the spring, but all teachers who are displaced will get priority transfers to other schools in the district based on their seniority.
Councilman Freeman said he’s unhappy about losing a school, but he is “happy about the fact that the name Kenmore is not going to drift into the darkness.”
The goal is to start construction of the school in 2018. A specific site hasn’t been selected, but James said he could propose a recommendation for a permanent location as soon as the next school board meeting.
“Right now, from where I sit, I would recommend the Garfield site because we already own it,” James said. “Nothing’s a done deal until you actually vote on it … There are some properties we were looking at; some don’t have enough acreage, but the two that we own do, and there are reasons why one might be favored over the other.”
The district already has decided to use the state’s school identification number for Garfield moving forward.
It would be especially insulting to the neighborhood to do away with the Kenmore name considering the district plans to house both Kenmore and Garfield students at the Kenmore school while the new high school is being built, Freeman said.
The closure is a blow to the neighborhood, Freeman added.
“It’s a loss from several standpoints,” he said. “I have a diploma, but I don’t have a school anymore. There’s nothing to point to. That school is unique in that it bears the name of the community.
“When you say ‘Kenmore,’ you think not only of a school, but you also think of a community. I think we’re going to maintain the Kenmore community even if the high school isn’t there because the community is strong enough.”
Rick Armon can be reached 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .