The Beachwood Board of Education voted Dec. 11 to combine Fairmount preschool with Bryden as part of the district’s renovation of elementary schools.
The board had been considering the proposal for several months.
According to Superintendent Dr. Bob Hardis, the proposal came about after the conceptual design phase of the project was completed.
“Once we began to get a sense of the total square footage, and where on the Bryden site the new building would be located, that’s when the possibility of a [preschool] wing became apparent,” he said.
ThenDesign Architecture presented a building plan on Oct. 30 at a public study session.
The plan includes a dedicated preschool wing that would accommodate approximately 80 preschoolers and contain six classrooms in addition to a special “large muscle room” for preschoolers to gain gross motor skills.
Most of the feedback that we’ve heard has been in favor of this change. We’re making sure that we hear from our preschool staff, for example, to reflect all of their needs into this new design.
— School Board President Megan Walsh
According to Hardis and School Board President Megan Walsh, it is unlikely that the plan will impact the number of staff employed.
The proposed plan is a shift from what voters expected in the spring.
“I was concerned about what voters would feel, but I think what’s important to keep in mind is that the ballot in May did not indicate what the $65 million was going to be used for,” Walsh said. “It’s not exactly like the voters approved a specific plan.”
The Board of Education has worked hard to be transparent with Beachwood residents and has sought community input about the potential plan.
Online surveys, as well as a study session on Dec. 5 about the interior of the building allowed community members to voice their opinions and provide feedback about the change.
Walsh and Hardis say they have not heard negative criticism from the community about the plan to consolidate the preschool into the new Bryden building.
“Most of the feedback that we’ve heard has been in favor of this change,” Walsh said. “We’re making sure that we hear from our preschool staff, for example, to reflect all of their needs into this new design.”
Moreover, the plan does not impact the budget. While the current elementary facilities budget allocated $4.9 million to renovate the existing Fairmount building, the new proposal estimates the construction of the new preschool wing at Bryden to cost slightly less than $4.1 million.
“This still leaves some money to [provide] upgrades for Fairmount,” Walsh added.
The new plan has a number of benefits. According to Walsh and Hardis, it would not only benefit parents who have to drop off their children in separate locations, but would also solve the issue of shared staff between the schools such as the principal (Fairmount and Bryden share a principal) and speech and occupational therapists.
“Now that they can stay in one building, this would just be a much more efficient use of their time as well as resources,” Hardis said. “What we hope though is that the time they’re spending on the road between Bryden and Fairmount can be time that they actually are spending with their students and colleagues.”
I think that it’ll help the little ones become comfortable at Bryden. It will also help the staff to get to know the little ones a little bit earlier and develop some stronger relationships along the way.
— First Grade Teacher Annie Bracale
Annie Bracale, a long-time first grade teacher at Bryden, added that the combined schools would allow for more supervision of the children and help ease the transition from preschool to kindergarten.
“I think that it’ll help the little ones become comfortable at Bryden,” she said. “It will also help the staff to get to know the little ones a little bit earlier and develop some stronger relationships along the way.”
Bracale along with Karen Leeds, who teaches three-year-olds at Fairmount, are excited for the collaborations between the two schools as far as book buddies, PBIS lessons and shared assemblies.
Leeds recounted how the preschool and kindergarten were originally together at Fairmount from 1998-2006, which fostered more camaraderie between the staff and students, something she hopes to see again if this plan were to go through.
She also feels that combining kindergarten through second grade in one building would create a more vibrant community.
“There would be more people, more students, more staff, more resources and more camaraderie to enhance that,” she said.
Discussions about the future use of the Fairmount building are still ongoing; however, Hardis and Walsh see it as a space to be shared with the community.
Aside from serving as the office space for the school district’s central office and being used to host the Fairmount summer camp, Walsh and Hardis foresee potential partnerships with the city of Beachwood’s recreation department and the Beachwood Library.
Hardis said Fairmount currently hosts adult English and U.S. citizenship classes due to the lack of space at the library. The current Fairmount classrooms may also be used to host speaker series and training and development programs due to the library’s limited number of rooms.
“Right now, we don’t know,” Hardis said. “But we will turn this question over to our community and to a variety of organizations that operate within our city with ideas for how this space can better serve the Beachwood community.”
The board plans for construction of the new elementary schools to be completed by December 2025, with the buildings ready to welcome students in January 2026.
