Strategic Growth Model Announcement

Hello, Avon families. I’m reaching out to let you know that our Board of School Trustees made an important – unanimous – decision at their meeting last night in selecting a model that will position Avon Schools to meet the demands of our growing student enrollment. While many school corporations across the state are declining in enrollment, we’re fortunate that more people are choosing to raise their families in our great community. All signs indicate enrollment will continue increasing in the coming decade.

Over the last several weeks, our team has been sharing three options for strategic growth. Well over 700 Avon educators, parents, and community members attended presentations in person, and hundreds more watched video presentations on our website and YouTube channel. Your valuable feedback assisted us and the Board in their decision making.

So, what are the details of the plan? Last night, the board approved Model 3 – which also was the preferred model of almost every individual who attended last week’s gallery walk presentations. You can access much more detail at avon-schools.org/growth, but let me provide a high-level summary of this model.

We anticipate no changes in our school structure until the 2025-26 school year. At that time:

• all elementary schools will begin serving students in kindergarten through grade 5 (instead of our current k-4 structure),
• Avon Intermediate School East and West will be converted into k-5 elementary schools,
• Avon Middle School North and South will begin serving students in grades 6-8, and
• we will open a new middle school – our third – on property near the Prestwick subdivision.
• All this work complements work already underway to significantly renovate and expand Avon High School.

Again, there is lots of information in the video series at avon-schools.org/growth that likely answers many of your questions, but let me briefly answer a few of the biggest questions.

• What is the impact on taxpayers? This project will be completed at no additional cost to taxpayers. We are able to finance the work as existing debt is paid off.
• Will funds from the 2018 referendum be utilized? No referendum funds are used for school construction.  Referendum funds are reserved for helping us maintain class sizes, increase teacher pay, and provide additional student support.
• Why were only three models presented to the Board? Dozens of options were considered. Through lengthy discussions and research, we came to the conclusion that the three options we presented were the models with most merit.
• This model addresses K-8, but what about Avon High School?  We’ve been sharing for several months now about a significant expansion and renovation project at AHS that will grow its capacity to support 4,000 students and provide needed updates to a building that is almost 25 years old.  That project has already been approved and you will see steel going up on the first phases this week! You can find more information about the AHS project on our website.
• How will this affect transportation? What about school start and end times? How will redistricting look with additional elementary schools? How will eight elementary schools feed into three middle schools? The first step was determining what model we would use to grow our schools. We will begin working toward answers to these (and many other) specific questions over the next two and a half school years. Remember, no changes take effect until the start of the 2025-26 school year.

This winter and spring, we will begin working on the initial phases of planning and preparation for this exciting expansion project. We will continue to provide timely and detailed updates as the project progresses.

I have referred a few times to the survey many of you completed. One of the most important highlights from the feedback was that an overwhelming majority of you – 81% – said that excellent student experience/learning environments and being prepared for future growth capacity should be the driving factors in this decision. I could not agree more! I love that I get to serve as Superintendent in a community that wants the best for all our students – those we serve now and those we will serve in the future.

Thanks for your support and I hope your family has a wonderful winter break.

Sincerely,

Scott Wyndham, Ed.D.
Superintendent