Lima City Schools
Lima, Ohio

Nine schools – seven new, two renovated – in five years: By any measure, the Lima, OH, facilities program was ambitious. But a new high school? That’s special. While most new buildings are cause for celebration, dedication of a high school is a true community event. In the words of Superintendent Karel Oxley, it is “the crown jewel” of the program.

There are 612 school districts in Ohio, and a selected few, including Lima, are using the “small school” strategy within the larger student population – what is known as the “Ohio High School Transformation Initiative.” Each small school will take a different path to learning: project based, intelligence based (exploring students diverse talents), and performance based (rooted on a broad range of activities, not only classes). Each will have its own dedicated section of the new high school, sharing resource areas. In Lima, 1,500 students will be served by this very personalized approach to learning.

Lima is part of the multibillion-dollar effort by the Ohio School Facilities Commission and local school districts to create effective learning centers. To date, Barton Malow has partnered as construction manager on nine building programs through OSFC. For Lima, our team worked closely with district staff and archtiect Fanning Howey, to assure a very complicated phasing plan was implemented without a hitch.

”Now, together, we will build a future,” said Lima Superintendent Oxley. “We will build memories totally focused on making a difference in a child’s life.”