SOM Center Building Set To Be Bought By Solon Schools

SOLON, OH — The Solon City Schools have been authorized to purchase the Learning Trails School property on SOM Center Road. The Board of Education approved a $1.7 million bid for the school. The bid has been accepted but the sale is not yet final.

District officials said the purchase of the building allows the Solon Schools to move its preschool program for cheaper than could have been achieved through renovations or additions to existing properties. The Solon preschool is currently housed at a facility on Arthur Road.

No changes to the district's school locations are expected to start this year. The Solon Schools Strategic Plan Facilities Action Team will reconvene in 2018 and begin to discuss specifics for the long-term direction of the Solon Schools.

Shifting away from the Arthur Road facility has long been in the district's plans. The idea of moving away from Arthur Road was first broached in 2014, during a Strategic Plan Update. It was brought up again in 2016.

“It was at that time that we began considering the potential use of that school building in the greater Solon community – a building that was constructed and updated specifically for use as a preschool,” said Joseph Regano, superintendent, Solon City Schools.

The Learning Trails School building, located at 6545 SOM Center, was first placed on the market four years ago. Regano said the district began making plans around the SOM Center Building because of the high-cost of maintenance at the Solon Schools' Arthur Road property.

“We also knew that our least reliable and costly building for ongoing maintenance has been Arthur Road, which is in large part why that school was closed as a K-4 building during our elementary redistricting in 2015. Although our preschool is still housed at Arthur Road, practically we continued planning for where that program would relocate long-term and what we would do with the Arthur Road building. Fast forward to this year and the school building and property on SOM Center Road has remained on the market," Regano said.

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