New year means new school

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (WDTN) - Drivers do their best to dodge the drifts while students shiver to keep away the cold early Wednesday morning, but if there's anything that can warm them up on a day like this, it's the welcome they're about to get.

As students streamed into the hallways Wednesday you didn't see many with lowered heads.

They want to see what they've been eyeing for a while now, the new Wayne High School.       

"A lot of kids looked amazed," says Jarrod Hardrick, who is Mr. Wayne. "They're excited to be in here. I think it's really good for everybody."

Adds student Eric Ellington, "I want to walk around. See what the school looks like."

The opening of the new high school marks the end of the district's construction project that allowed it to build seven schools in all.

"It is something we'll have in the community for the next 40 to 50 years," says Huber Heights
Superintendent Susan Gunnell.

Most could find something about the new school to rave about. For some it's the security with the new high school having only a few doors compared to more than 60 for the old one.

"It does make me feel a lot better," says Principal Reva Cosby. "I feel confident I can keep the students safe and definitely they're not going to learn if they don't feel safe."

For others the best feature is the new gym, well kind of.

"We haven't practiced in here yet and it's a bigger floor so I don't think they'll be excited about the conditioning part of it but I think they'll be excited about playing in here," says basketball player Isiah Fairley.

But no matter what you liked best, you needed one thing above all others to find it.

"I don't know where I'm going but with this map I can figure it out," says Gisella Drouet, a student who helped others find their classrooms.

But what the new school doesn't come with is a financial map.

The school board is talking about $6.3 million in cuts after a levy defeat in November.

"This is very challenging to know there's this overlying concern about the staffing and the operational costs, Gunnell says.

But at least for today, the lesson was in the value a new school can provide.

"It's a tremendous learning opportunity," Gunnell says. "It's a tremendous educational environment."

Huber Heights will have a 9.95 mill levy on the ballot in May.