It appears Durbin Elementary School will not remain at its current location, but will be constructed at another site yet to be determined. However, Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) school officials say that there is a possibility that the current Durbin building could be used for other school district programs.
The HSE school board heard from Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter Wednesday night on the Durbin situation, and he said there are talks going on to either purchase a 20-acre site for the new Durbin Elementary, or find a location already in place near a new or current development in the area. No specific new locations were mentioned.
The goal is to break ground on a new and larger Durbin during the fall of 2020 and have the elementary school open for students in 2022.
In response to a question from School Board Member Sylvia Shepler, Reuter said maintenance will continue at the current Durbin building, but no improvements will be made, since a new building is now in the works.
Any new site will be evaluated for the availability of sewer hookups. One reason Durbin will not likely be expanded at the current location relates to the cost of running water and sewer utilities to that site, which Reuter said would cost at least $5 million.
Board member Brad Boyer asked Reuter what would happen to the current Durbin building once the new elementary school opens. Reuter responded that is yet to be determined.
“There has been some conversation of moving some of our other programs within the district to that (current Durbin) site, but it’s yet to be determined what we do with the existing (Durbin) site,” Reuter said.
Reuter reiterated that expanding the Durbin building is not possible with the lack of utilities available and the high cost of extending utility lines, but the building could be used for other programs without expanding the structure.