At the beginning of September last year, the superintendent of the Groveport Madison School District, Bruce Hoover, announced that the school district, working with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, would begin the planning and design stages of a large scale construction project that would result in a new high school building and campus.
In a short, informative article in the Groveport Madison school district newspaper, Hoover discussed his hopes for the new construction project,
“This new facility will provide the space and educational conditions necessary to improve learning opportunities for our students. We have made the promise to be innovative in the design and creation of opportunities for our students. It is a promise we intend to keep. Let’s make our students’ success a promise kept for our community.”
What struck both Emrich and Poteet when they heard about the Groveport Madison school district’s plan to construct a new high school building, specifically superintendent Hoover’s goals to ‘provide the space and educational conditions necessary to improve learning opportunities for our students,’ and ‘be innovative in the design and creation of opportunities for our students,’ was their memory of the renovation work their Local performed at the old Groveport Madison high school a few years prior.
The mechanical system at the old high school was deteriorating due to shoddy installation and maintenance of the mechanical insulation. This was not only causing corrosion, mildew, and mold growth in the mechanical rooms, but also causing mold dispersal throughout the school that was significant enough to cause sickness to school personnel and students.
With the optimistic words of Groveport superintendent Hoover and the memory of shoddy work, deteriorating mechanical systems, and sick children and teachers stuck in their minds, Emrich and Poteet knew they had to do something to make sure nothing similar happened in the new high school.
STORY TO BE CONTINUED IN UPCOMING BLOG