CANFIELD — Canfield Local School District officials are coming up with a plan for its facilities.

A committee has been formed and is now looking at data from a survey. The committee’s planning will include if, how or when voters are asked to help pay for the changes.

The survey took place in October with 742 residents responding, which pleased Superintendent Joe Knoll. He said typically, communities with Canfield’s population are pleased to get about half of that number.

“The biggest percentage of those responding were parents of school-age children,” Knoll said. “We did have 12 percent from grandparents.”

The results showed 76.7 percent had children in the district, 73.3 percent were residents, and 9.6 percent were employees of the district.

The major findings from the survey showed 62.3 percent believe Canfield schools are in poor condition. As for moving forward on a facilities project, 92.5 percent said they believe it is time.

“When one drives by our buildings, they look good and are well maintained,” Knoll said, “but 60 percent of those in the survey said they know how old our buildings are.”

The high school was built in 1966 and while it has undergone some renovations over the years, it presents challenges to technology use.

“The media center at the high school is not built for today’s technology,” said district communications director Renee English. “I will get a text, but won’t receive it until I leave the building.”

The two Canfield elementary schools also were not designed for today’s technology. C.H. Campbell was built in 1961 and Hilltop Elementary in 1970. The oldest building in the district is Canfield Village Middle School, where the original section of the building was built in 1922. It is made of brick and stone and once served as Canfield’s high school. It occupies 168,000 square feet.

In response to the survey, the district put together a committee of 40 stakeholders including residents, bankers, business owners and school employees. The committee has been tasked with forming a plan for the future.

CROSS SECTION

“The committee is a real cross-section of our community,” Knoll said. “Every one of them has skin in the game.”

The committee has been meeting almost weekly and discussing what the future of Canfield schools will look like and a roadmap on how to get there. Key ingredients for that vision come from the top three components the survey results revealed. In order from the top, they are educational value, cost and safety.

Knoll said with those three key factors in mind, it’s the vision of the board of education to move toward a campus-type setting. Where such a campus would be developed is up in the air now. The district still owns 22 acres on Shields Road, in front of the Canfield baseball club. The high school is the largest piece of property at 30 acres.

Knoll said it is unlikely that everything could be brought together at once. He said it could take several steps over many years to meet the one-campus concept.

As for the likelihood of asking voters for more money for the first phase, Knoll said: “We hope to have a recommendation (from the committee) by the end of the year or in January. We could see a bond issue on the May 2022 ballot.”

“We are still studying options,” Knoll said. “We are forever committed to creating an educational environment thar challenges each student to achieve their highest potential. Every Cardinal counts.”

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com