Please see the list of updates below regarding the Riverside Local School District’s Facilities.
Hale Road Elementary:
In February of 2020, the District sold the entire Hale Road Elementary property to the Education Service Center of the Western Reserve for $110,000. The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve is using the property to facilitate multiple cross-district programs throughout Lake and Geauga counties.
Hadden Elementary:
The District and the Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve reached a purchase agreement on June 3, 2021 for the Hadden Elementary Building, located at 1800 Mentor Avenue in Painesville Township.
The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve agreed to pay the District a total of $500,000 for the building. The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve had previously been leasing the building from the District as a fiscal agent for the Governing Board of the iSTEM Early College High School. All entities agreed to terminate the lease agreement to move forward with the purchase agreement. The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve plans to continue operating as a fiscal agent for the Governing Board of the iSTEM Early College High School at the Hadden Elementary property. Established in 2015, iSTEM is an independent, public school open to 8th through 12th graders residing in Northeast Ohio.
In December of 2019, the District agreed to sell the back portion of Hadden Elementary to Painesville Township for $40,000, which will remain a park.
485 Riverside Drive:
On June 11, 2021, the District’s Board of Education voted to purchase 2.79 acres at 485 Riverside Drive, which is the property located directly next to Riverside Campus, for the listed price of $349,000. As part of the sale, the District agrees to pay the closing costs, title fees and 2.5% of the realtor fees.
Purchasing the property at 485 Riverside Drive gives the District additional flexibility while we continue to work on Phase II of the District’s Facilities Plan. Phase II would allow the District to build a new 6-12 complex on the current Riverside Campus property should a second bond levy pass in the future.
The District’s Facilities Plan is a three-phase plan that was passed by the Board in February of 2016. Phase I of the project is completed, as the District passed a bond levy in November of 2016 to construct two new elementary schools (Parkside and Riverview) while decommissioning Hadden, Hale Road, Leroy and Madison Avenue Elementary Schools.
Phase III of the plan would allow the District to repurpose LaMuth Middle School into an elementary school that would require no additional funding from taxpayers. The District would then decommission Melridge Elementary and/or Buckeye Elementary (Depending on enrollment at that time).
The Board has not yet decided when a potential Bond Levy for the second phase would go on the ballot. It will not be in November of 2021.
Leroy Elementary:
The District will continue to explore all options regarding the decommissioning of the Leroy Elementary property.