AVON LAKE, Ohio — Voters in Avon Lake have voted down Issue 11, a $170 million bond issue for Avon Lake City Schools to build three new school buildings and renovate the high School.
"Obviously it hurts,” says Katie Koch, a 2005 graduate of Avon Lake High who moved back to the community with her family two years ago.
Koch has two young children and volunteers for the group Avon Lake Citizens for Schools. She and her lifelong friend Mallory Wehage were both pushing for the passage of Issue 11.
The measure failed on Election Day by 441 votes.
"It's hard to go to other districts and see the opportunities that their students have based on the physical facilities and then seeing ours," Koch shared.
Wehage is also a 2005 Avon Lake grad. Her children are fifth-generation Avon Lake students who now attend Eastview Elementary.
"The school where my children attend, my grandparents went to elementary school there when it first opened in the '50s, and it really just needs some work," Wehage told 3News. "It's not conducive to a learning environment for our kids."
Avon Lake Superintendent Joelle Magyar says she's disappointed the bond issue to build two new pre-K to fifth grade elementary schools and a new sixth through eighth grade middle school, in addition to renovating the high school, failed. However, she's energized to figure out what's next for the district.
"We will be meeting with our board to determine what those next steps would be," Magyar explained. "Just kind of assess where we are with the community right now, maybe engage the community and have some understanding as to what some of those roadblocks are before we might consider putting it [the construction project] back on the ballot again."
Those opposed to Issue 11 say the district was asking for too much at once. However, Magyar believes breaking up the project and spreading it out over a longer period had the potential to be more expensive because of rising building costs.
"The need is still there for us regardless of what the plan is," she said. "Our buildings are still in the same condition that they were yesterday."
Magyar adds one thing the district could have done differently is give themselves more time to engage the community.
"I think we started maybe a little bit later in the process," she admitted. "Next time, [we will] consider giving ourselves a little more runway to have more community engagement so that there really isn’t any misunderstanding out in our community. … Our kids deserve spaces in which we can educate them to the best of our abilities."