Plans for a new $35 million middle school in Rossford are rolling along — at no cost to the taxpayers.
Architects with the Collaborative, a Toledo architecture, design, and planning firm, unveiled renderings of the 81,700-square-foot school to the Rossford Board of Education’s facilities committee and Superintendent Dan Creps on Tuesday.
The school will be for fourth through sixth-grade students. Three site plans were presented Tuesday, and the consensus was for the new building to be just north of the new elementary off Lime City Road and State Rt. 795.
It would also be near the R, the district’s 73,600-square-foot multipurpose building. The $17.5 million complex — also built with no tax dollars — opened in August, 2023, and has an indoor running track, golf simulator, and a tennis and esports areas.
The two other proposed middle school locations are also around the R, but would have entrances off of Mandell or Glenwood roads and would not be as close to the new elementary school, where resources, such as playgrounds, could be better shared. Property acquisition would also be needed.
Board member Emily Klocko liked how a courtyard connected the new building and the elementary, and how the R was in walking distance.
“There’s a lot of synergy between the three spots. We have an opportunity to do a lot with the students,” she said.
The district has two main buildings — a new elementary on the Route 795 campus and a high school downtown. In 2016, district voters passed a 4.4-mill levy and a 7-mill improvement levy to raise a total of $71 million to build the new elementary school and renovate the high school.
“Not many people could have foreseen the type of growth that we are currently experiencing,” said Superintendent Creps. “Our financial stewardship has been extremely strong, which has positioned us very well to do this building without having to go for new taxes from the community.”
Mr. Creps said the new school could open during winter break 2028 or the following summer.
“We are really stretched for space at the current elementary school,” he said. “We need that additional space, and we know those primary grade students, and the numbers and sizes of those classes are growing.”
Mrs. Klocko said the building needs to be flexible.
“We want to support spaces that are academically rich, but also have the opportunities to to always be thinking of the future, and can evolve to future spaces that we don’t even know we need yet because our world moves so fast,” she said.
“We want to be the place — a destination district,” Mrs. Klocko said. “We always want to be the place that’s thinking and evolving toward the future.”
Rossford schools are reaping the benefits of enterprise zone agreements, mainly with Amazon.
The most recent project benefitting the school district is a 600,000-square-foot warehouse being built on 162 acres at 9240 Fremont Pike in Perrysburg Township. The $75 million facility is in the Rossford school district, which received a 10-year tax abatement agreement with Amazon. It begins Jan. 31, 2026, and will pay the school district $641,600 per year over 10 years. The warehouse is expected to employ 500.
A larger Amazon fulfillment center opened in Rossford in 2020 and employs 1,000; that enterprise zone agreement gives the school district approximately $579,000 a year for 15 years.
The business is not only generating tax dollars for the district, they are bringing families too, Mr. Creps said. Seven new apartment or housing areas are coming to the Rossford area.
The next step in the building process is to meet with different groups associated with the schools, such as teachers, food service, and athletics, to talk about use, said Trey Meyer, an architect with the Collaborative. The board will also be advertising for a construction firm.
Board members Tiffany Densic and Teresa McKnight have voted against building the new school. Board President Jackie Huffman and board member Dawn Burks joined Mrs. Klocko this month in the vote to proceed.
Mrs. Densic on Wednesday said the district is $83 million in debt with the lease for the R and the bond issues.
“I agree that we’re in a healthy financial place, but we are in debt,” she said. “They’re looking at it in a different manner.
“Sure, we can leverage debt until the cows come home,” Mrs. Densic added. “We are over $80 million in debt, and this building itself is going to add an astronomical amount of debt.”
Student population could be curbed by eliminating open enrollment, which is at 179 students, she said.
It would be better to start plans for building a new school in 2030, or later, she said. The new students from the new developments are not going to arrive in Rossford all at once, Mrs. Densic added.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Creps said they are using all the space in the new elementary.
“We are full,” he said. “The time is now to act on this. We are in a very, very strong financial space. We know that the programming we have put into place continues to grow. We know employment opportunities continue to be in this area, and we know we want to serve those kids.”
He added that it’s not feasible to add on to the elementary because of programming space. For example, the cafeteria would have to start offering lunch in the morning, to serve all of the students.
Rossford currently has 1,700 students. The new school will allow the district to accommodate up to 2,500 students in the three buildings, Mr. Creps said.
When the new middle school opens, the current elementary school would be used for pre-kindergarten through third grades. The high school would have grades seven through 12. It currently has grades six through 12.
First Published February 26, 2025, 7:31 p.m.
