The Long-Term Master Facilities Plan consists of renovations and additions to Shaker's school buildings.
The current Segment 1 work encompasses seven buildings and demolition of the middle school for a projected cost of $187.1 million.
While the community is not credited on construction signage, 75% of the needed project funds are sourced from local School District property taxes.
Schedule & Budget
The Long-Term Facilities Master Plan began with the Ludlow Early Learning Center renovation (2024-2025). This Ludlow Pre-K project was funded entirely by the Local District.
The remainder of the buildings are guided by an agreement with the Ohio Facilities Construction Committment (OFCC) with a State of Ohio contribution to funding, and will be executed under OFCC guidance and requirements in two segments as follows:
Segment 1
Segment 1 work includes:
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Woodbury Middle Years 2025-2027
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Lomond Elementary 2027-2028
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Mercer Elementary 2027-2028
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Boulevard Elementary 2028-2029
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Onaway Elementary 2028-2029
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Fernway Elementary t.b.d.
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Existing Middle School
Demolition t.b.d.
The budget for Segment 1 work combined with the Ludlow Pre-K was set at $187.1 million.
Dates above are the construction periods currently projected by the School District
Segment 2
Segment 2 is intended to address the high school.
This segment has not yet been planned or funded aside from preliminary studies, thus no schedule is available.
The budget for Segment 2 was estimated in 2023 as a range from $86.7M to $144.9M.
The plan ratified by Board of Education indicated to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission an intent to demolish the current historic High School building and construct a new structure.
To proceed with a project at the high school, the District would be required to ask the community to pass an additional bond levy to fund this Segment 2 work.
Documents
Refer to the School's Facilities Plan Archive page for additional documentation
Funding
In November of 2023, Shaker School District Voters passed the Issue 13 levy. This included 6.45 mills to issue $121.1 million worth of bonds for the school construction.
The levy also included 3.0 mills as an operating levy to support the newly created Pre-K program for the district, along with a 0.5 mill 'permanent improvement' levy, required by state regulations to maintain the new facilities.
The total 2023 levy amount was 9.95 mills, or $348 annually per $100,000 of home value.
The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) will contribute $47.5 million to the Segment 1 construction, raised through various state tax revenues and redistributed to Ohio school districts.
Elements outside the allowed OFCC scope are considered "Locally Funded Initiatives" (LFIs).
Thee State of Ohio does not contribute a share of funding to construction of these components. Example of LFIs include the new Woodbury auditorium and natatorium (swimming facilitiy), which will be built entirely using local funds.
Documents
Project Team
Project Management
The Assistant Superintendent of Business & Operations is the primary individual responsible for managing the project on behalf of the School District. As the title implies, he has broad responsibility for a range of district operations in addition to the management of a $187 million project.
To our knowledge, his relevant management experience includes one previous facilities improvement project for the Berea Schools, but not professional training or certifications in the design or construction professions. The Berea Schools facilities (see below) do not include similar historic buildings or neighborhood contexts like Shaker Heights.
Berea-Midpark Middle School (renovation) - GPD Group
Berea-Midpark High School - GPD Group
The School District retained Cobalt Group, Inc. to assist with project planning, management, and execution, including:
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project resource management
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stakeholder engagement
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communications
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consultant management
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sustainability
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compliance and quality assurance
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risk management
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reporting and documentation
Their engagement with the district began August 1, 2024 and continued through April 30, 2025 when the District declined to extend their contract.
From the perspective of members of the Facilities Advisory Committee, the Cobalt Group provided useful assistance and value to the facilities work. No explanation was given by the District for their decision not to continue with this assistance, and no additional project management consultant or owner's representative has since been retained.
Cobalt Group fee: $60,000
Project Design Team
The Architecture and Engineering services for the project are provided by GPD Group.
For all projects with the exception of the Ludlow Early Learning Center, Robert P. Madison International, Inc. is a consulting architecture firm. Architectural responsibilities are shared between the two firms for the Woodbury project, and the responsibility for the five renovated elementary schools has been divided, with each firm taking a primary role in different schools. GPD is responsible for the engineering scope on all projects.
Ludlow was contracted separately solely with GPD, see here.
At the Woodbury Middle Years Building, an additional firm was brought in by the School District to assist with design mid-way through the City's planning and design approvals process. Refer to the Woodbury project page for further details.
GPD Group A/E fees: $10,519,791
Additional Services: $ 1,160,419
Reimbursible Expenses: $ 351,125
Total GPD Group fees: $12,031,335
(9.2% of estimated const. budget)
Fees appear to include:
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Architecture
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Civil Engineering
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Structural Engineering
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Mechanical, Plumbing, & Electrical Engineering
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Site Survey
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Geotechnical Testing
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Construction Testing
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Hazardous Material Assessment
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Mechanical Testing and Balancing
This contract is held by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission rather than the Shaker School District.
Construction Management
Gilbane Building Co. is acting in the role of Construction Manager At Risk.
Build Shaker Better is working to better understand the total value of Gilbane's fees for their work. The Board of Education authorized a contract on 5.21.2024 with Gilbane for Pre-construction Services.
Additional fees / profit are built in to the construction contracts.
The AKA Team, a construction management firm, assists Gilbane in the project management role as their subcontractor. Their responsibilities consist of site management, scheduling/coordination, safety/quality, resource management, communication and documentation.
Estimated Construction Budget: *
OFCC Scope: $130,594,881
(02.11.2025)
Locally Funded Initiatives: $ 21,864,614
(05.16.2023)
Note this does not include the Ludlow Pre-K project, which is separately contracted with Gilbane by the Shaker School District at a cost of approximately $15.9 million.
*Numbers are pulled from two sources issued on varying dates.
Community Engagement
Forward Together
Forward Together was an initiative launched in 2019 for joint coordination of a shared vision for facilities for the schools, library, and city. An advisory committee including citizen members was formed in 2021 and work continued into 2022 with public engagement open houses. A plan for schools facilities was presented to the advisory group, but later significantly changed by the Board of Education, though the change was not introduced through or communicated to the advisory group.
Forward Together continues to meet as a group composed of School, City, and Library officials and staff, but at present does not include citizen representation.
Issue 13 campaign committments
The Issue 13 bond campaign website described the intended community engagement process as follows:
"To help guide its work, the District will enlist the help of an advisory group of stakeholders that will include local experts, engaged parents, students, and staff members to work with the designers and builders on planning and implementation. This team will help ensure that the buildings, the grounds that surround them, water management considerations, and other important parts of minimizing consumption, waste, and sustainably managing the District’s physical spaces all receive sufficient representation. The group will also recommend curricular opportunities for engaging students in this work and in the ongoing life of each building. Last but certainly not least, the group will be asked to help the District adopt and implement continuing sustainability practices in its operations and maintenance."
Facilities Advisory Committee
The Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC) was formed by the district, with an initial meeting on January 8, 2024. Membership consisted of 32 community stakeholders: parents, teachers, and other residents.
While the FAC was in some ways similar to what the Issue 13 campaign described, students were not a part of the active stakeholders.
The District used FAC meetings as a focus group, presenting project design progress periodically.
The work of the FAC did not address several of the issues anticipated by campaign committments: sustainability, student engagement and curricular opportunities, or operations and maintenance considerations were not engaged in meaningful ways.
The last meeting of the FAC was held on December 1, 2025, and the District has not indicated any future plans to reconvene the group.
Future engagement
No plans for future engagement related to Woodbury have yet been announced. Some limited illustrations of the current design can be found on the District's website.
A broad outline for outreach related to Lomond and Mercer was presented to the Board of Education on 1.13.2026, but with few dates or other specific details.