After decades of seeing schools closed in Kenmore, the Akron neighborhood is finally getting a new one.
Educators, local elected officials and students celebrated the groundbreaking for the as-of-yet unnamed school Thursday. The new K-8 building will replace both Pfeiffer Elementary in Kenmore and the Miller South School for the Performing Arts in Sherbondy Hill.
It will be located on the site of the former Kenmore High School. The district closed the building in 2022 after it was merged with Garfield High School. It was torn down in 2025. The high school was one of six schools that have been closed in the neighborhood over the last three decades due to declining population.
Superintendent Mary Outley acknowledged advocates in the community and hard conversations by former board members that led to the decision to build a new school in the community.
"Today is a declaration. A declaration that the children of the Kenmore neighborhood, the children of this city are worth investing in," she said. "They are worth showing up for, and they are worth building something remarkable for."
Councilmember Tina Boyes lauded current and former school board members for making the project a priority despite the district having to come up with its own money to fund the construction. Boyes, who was born and raised in the community, has raised the alarm for years about disinvestment in Kenmore.
"By keeping school-aged children in their communities with a walkable, accessible school, and by adding an art school a block away from where the arts are already vibrant, right here on Kenmore Boulevard, we are building the social fabric of this community, and we're creating a lasting investment and communicating to people, 'you matter,'" Boyes said.
Former Akron Board of Education Member Derrick Hall, 34th District state representative (D-Akron), was board president at the time of the decision to move forward with the new school.
"There's nothing I'm more proud of in my time on the Board than championing alongside Tina the move to get this, Miller South, put here in Kenmore, you know," Hall said. "Because you know we (the school district) had turned it into an educational desert."
The overall budget for the Kenmore school had increased by $13 million over the original estimate due to rising construction costs, officials said last year. Stacey Hodoh, director of communications and strategic media, said the district is "making adjustments to the overall design plan" to reel in the budget. At the same time, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said a proposal to allocate $18 million in tax revenue from an old bond issue to help pay for the $74 million project is expected to move forward through a joint city and school review committee.
Dakota Collins, a fifth grader at the Miller South School for the Performing Arts, said she was excited about the new school. She plays trumpet in the band.
"We'll get like... new interest areas, rooms and bigger auditoriums, like bigger rooms and everything," she said.
Collins' grandmother Deborah Woodard said the new auditorium in the school will be a win for kids, but also for the neighborhood to see performances locally. Woodard's daughter attended Kenmore High School.
Pfeiffer Elementary School Teacher Megan Latchic grew up in Kenmore and said the neighborhood, the second-largest in Akron, has lost vitality over the years as families moved out and schools were closed.
"We've kind of always felt like that. So now that we're getting the new building, it feels like they're paying attention to us and giving us what we deserve," she said.
Despite a challenging financial outlook, Akron Public Schools is in the midst of a flurry of construction projects.
The district is moving forward with construction of a new school to replace North High School. Officials have said the school is overcrowded with that part of the city has seeing an influx of refugee and immigrant students. Construction is expected to start in spring 2027, and doors will open in the 2029-2030 school year, Hodoh said. The $85 million project will be funded by a bond issue approved by voters in 2024.
The district is also building a new stadium for Buchtel Community Learning Center and a new field house for Ellet Community Learning Center.
Even as the projects move forward, officials are considering an $11 million budget reduction plan with the district forecasting a major deficit in the next three years.
