Consolidation activity would impact every resident in Anderson Township and Newtown in several ways, and understanding the details behind the impact may help residents better evaluate the risks and challenges.
(1) No opportunity for lower levies as no net reduction in building maintenance costs likely
- New build at Bartels should come close to replacing AHS to accommodate merge
- Square footage (sq ft) for proposed new build uncertain
- AHS was 209,827 sq ft, investment from 2014 bond expanded to 234,304 sq ft
- Investment in to Anderson High School in last 10 years exceeded $25M
- THS site is 218,847 sq ft, Mercer is 94,990 sq ft … net need 134,314 sq ft
- Link to record of footprint received via public records request
- Square footage (sq ft) for proposed new build uncertain
- New build at Nagel to accommodate 6th graders nearly equal Mercer’s existing footprint
- 34% increase in Nagel student population … average 600 students / yr in 6th grade
- Current Nagel footprint 159 sq ft per student … necessitating 95,400 sq ft to add
- Nearly fully recreating the Mercer building (94,990) at the Nagel site
- Building would need to accommodate / plan to build over the creek
- To reduce traffic impact, an additional access road would likely be required
- Result will likely be a net addition to the district school footprint & no reduction in costs
- Square footage (sq ft) for proposed new build uncertain, students & community deserve equal or better
(2) Anyone visiting the school for education or athletic activities and events at the site will be impacted by the lack of parking, increasing community impact & district transportation costs
- Future Forest Hills High school location enrollment estimate 2350 students, 160+ faculty
- THS enrollment just under 1100, with 122 faculty
- Anderson High School enrollment 1227, with 140 faculty
- Mercer enrollment 642 students, with 91 faculty
- Net impact on existing location … +588 people
- Parking appears to be insufficient for increase in drivers & falls short of OFCC guidelines
- OFCC recommends parking for 2/3 of people in building …. 1656 spots
- Today at THS has ~325 permanent spots, 700-950 with overflow areas
- Knights of Columbus, Unitarian Church, current practice fields
- Fewer than 1/3 of students at THS today approved for parking due to capacity limit
- Proposed build cuts current parking, replaces most parking with new building
- Assuming same number of spots will be installed in new location, and every faculty gets a parking spot (162), only 163 student spots, < 7% of students get spots
- Result will increase in busing requirements & costs to cover the entire district
- Many students currently driving to AHS would instead ride buses, traffic constraints would limit parent drop-off also
- Presenter suggested shuttles serving between THS/Mercer site & old Anderson High School site (“Downtown Anderson”) would suffice to serve sporting & other events
(3) Currently, Mercer serves the needs of students from across the district with highly specialized needs
- Enabling teachers to realize collaboration & service efficiencies by being in one location
- Services distributed across 5 locations could impact cost savings & service efficiencies
- Could benefit minimize travel of students currently traveling from points afar to Mercer
(3) Increased traffic at already overcrowded times in choked corridors at Clough and Nagel will affect entire community’s traffic flow through domino affect
- Redirecting a net of 588 more people to THS from Lawyer Rd increases traffic
- Newtown Road and Lawyer heavily affected at school start & end
- Bartels Road may be closed and/or turned into a semi-private road limiting access to Clough Pike to residents
- Additional road at Nagel possibly required to accommodate access & increased volume
