Infrastructure Report Highlights Needs Reflected in Northwest Local Schools

Residents of the Northwest Local School District community may find the recently released 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure all too familiar. In the report, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America’s public school infrastructure a troubling grade of D+.

With the average school building in the U.S. now 49 years old, many are nearing the end of their intended 50-year design life. According to the ASCE, this means major system upgrades or full replacements are becoming increasingly necessary. Priority improvements include plumbing upgrades and the addition of cooling systems to mitigate the impact of rising temperatures.

The report estimated that, as of the 2023-24 school year, schools nationwide needed an additional $429 billion to bring infrastructure up to modern standards. The authors emphasized that, “Sustained investments are key to providing certainty, ensuring planning leads to development, and making large-scale infrastructure projects achievable.”

NWLSD Buildings Reflect the National Challenge
Many NWLSD facilities mirror the concerns outlined in the ASCE report, especially with regards to age. Below are the ages of current school buildings within the district:

• Colerain Elementary - 101 years (Construction on a new Colerain Elementary School will begin in the summer of 2025)

• Colerain Middle - 95 years

• White Oak Middle School - 64 years

• Colerain High School - 61 years

• Weigel Elementary - 60 (Closed as an elementary school in 2018 and remained home of the district’s Central Office building and alternative school.) 

• Houston Elementary (now Early Learning Center) - 59 years (Closing at the end of the 2024-2025 school year and will be demolished to make way for a new Colerain Elementary School. The Early Learning Center will relocate to the former Weigel Elementary/Central Office building.)

• Pleasant Run Middle - 56 years

• Northwest High School - 52 years

• Monfort Heights Elementary - 26 years

• Pleasant Run Elementary - 7 years

• Struble Elementary - 7 years

• Taylor Elementary - 7 years

Thanks to strong community support for a 3.82-mill bond and operating levy passed in 2015, NWLSD was able to consolidate five aging elementary schools - Welch, Pleasant Run, Taylor, Weigel, and Struble - into three new buildings: Pleasant Run, Taylor, and Struble Elementary Schools, all of which opened for the 2018-2019 school year.

A New Chapter for Colerain Elementary
At 101 years old, Colerain Elementary is currently the oldest school building in the district but not for long. Construction of a new Colerain Elementary is scheduled to begin later this year.

In early 2024, NWLSD proactively created a contingency plan to maintain in-person learning in the event of facility disruptions. That plan was activated just months later in May, when serious structural concerns, including falling bricks, were discovered at Colerain Elementary.

To address the urgent need, the district partnered with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to fast-track a co-funded school replacement project, which was approved by the Board of Education in June.

The new Colerain Elementary will be constructed on the site of the existing Houston Early Learning Center. The preschool program currently housed there will be relocated - ALL WITHOUT the need for additional tax dollars. This fiscally responsible move is made possible with strategic long term planning and a combination of increases in property tax valuations, state funding, credits from previous construction projects, pandemic-era savings, and staffing efficiencies.

Rather than seek a new bond to include a preschool wing in the new elementary building, the Board opted to temporarily relocate the preschool to a renovated space at the old Central Office on Banning Road and move administrative operations elsewhere. These thoughtful decisions prioritize student learning while supporting both the district’s long-term financial health and academic goals.

To read more about the ASCE’s 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, visit:
https://www.k12dive.com/news/schools-earn-d-grade-infrastructure-2025-asce-report/743506/