Washington Local Schools on Wednesday announced Whitmer Middle School as the name of a new middle school expected to open in 2026.
“I’m really excited about the name. I think it’s gonna fit exactly what our community is looking for. [And] I am most excited that the name came from the community.... It will be the greatest school in Ohio,” said Irshad Bannister, Washington Local Schools Board of Education president.
Like the district’s high school, the middle school, to be located off Harvest Lane, will also be the “Home of the Panthers.”
Mr. Bannister announced the name during a school board meeting. The school is scheduled to open to sixth-to-eighth-grade students in August, 2026.
Additionally, Mr. Bannister announced Erme Field as the name of the school’s football and track stadium.
Katie Peters, the school district’s director of communications, said the school was named after John Whitmer while the field was named after Frank Erme.
John Wallace Whitmer was born on Nov. 18, 1877, and raised in Waterville. Mr. Whitmer attended Wooster College and The Ohio State University and began his career as a teacher at Crabb School in Washington Township.
Mr. Whitmer eventually became the superintendent of Lucas County Schools, where he advocated ardently for high schools to serve youth who wanted more education beyond the eighth grade.
Ms. Peters said he provided “valuable counsel” to Washington Township school officials in 1924 when they began a freshman class in the basement of Wernert Elementary. When that class moved into a full high school, Washington Township honored Mr. Whitmer by naming the place for him, graduating the first group of Panthers in 1928. He is buried in Waterville.
Frank Erme worked with the district in the 1950s, with service as a high school teacher, coach, and athletic director, then president of the Washington Local school board. He died in 2016 at age 87.
Mr. Bannister said the school name and the field name each received the most votes by community members after they emailed their name suggestions to the school district this past fall, beginning in September. The two names were by far the most popular, he said.
Superintendent Kadee Anstadt said the names were “absolutely appropriate.”
“I think it says a lot about our community to give the kind of input they did,” Ms. Anstadt said. “... I think it shows that we’re traditional in many ways but we are excited for the future.”
The nearly $74 million school project project is funded by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, with Washington Local Schools intending to spend an additional nearly $6 million on additions to the planned new middle school, according to district officials.
During its February meeting, the district’s five-member board of education voted unanimously to use $5,796,960 from the general fund to cover such items as additional square footage, more gym space, bleachers, wrestling room, exterior track, and furniture.
The board voted on the additions after the Ohio Office of Budget and Management Controlling Board in January approved the district’s plan to acquire funds to build a new middle school and demolish its existing one.
In April, Washington Local Schools decided to buy the Washington branch library with the adjacent land to build a middle school there and to lease the nearly three-acre site back to the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
The term of the lease is not to exceed 24 months, according to a draft lease agreement posted by the board of education. The agreement listed the purchase price under consideration as $775,000.
Prior to the district’s April board of education meeting, the library transferred the title to the school district of about 2.8 acres at the intersection of Quast Lane and Harvest Lane together with the structures and all other improvements.
During its June meeting, the board voted unanimously in choosing Four Seasons Environmental Inc. of Monroe, Ohio, to assist with design reviews of the new middle school’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and other systems and verification that they are installed correctly at a cost not to exceed $179,799.
The district chose the company from a list of consultants provided by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
First Published November 30, 2023, 1:07 a.m.
