The Riverside School Board has voted to move forward with the expansion of Riverview Elementary School in a close vote that brought out a number of community members to express their opposition. Related Articles Local News | Morley Library celebrates 125 years in Painesville Local News | Painesville pastor accepts call to serve as Air Force chaplain Local News | Painesville City Council considers increasing pay for future terms Local News | Painesville Police Department seeking information regarding missing juveniles Local News | Lake County NAACP unveils details for this year’s NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet The Sept. 26 resolution expressed board approval for an eight-classroom addition to the Painesville Township elementary building. It also directed district administrators to request qualifications for a design professional and construction manager at risk. Board members Denise Brewster, Scott Fishel and Dennis Keeney voted in favor, while board members Belinda Grassi and Lori Krenisky voted against. The vote came as the district considers how to address space needs at its elementary schools. Superintendent Chris Rateno said earlier in the meeting that the district has space concerns at two of its elementary schools, Riverview and Buckeye. Two options for the district’s immediate needs were presented to the district’s facilities committee and in a public survey. The first option was to add space to Riverview, which would allow the district to move special education units back to spaces in the school, return the music room to use for music classes and accommodate future housing developments. The second option was to add space to LaMuth Middle School, move all of the district’s fifth-graders to the middle school and redistrict the elementary school boundaries. Of the 360 people who responded to the district’s survey, which closed on Sept. 22, 75.6 percent indicated support for expanding LaMuth. Rateno said that that was the consensus choice of the district’s facilities committee, which includes administrators, parents, other community members and Brewster as board liaison. Opposition to the proposal to extend Riverview also filled much of the meeting’s hour-long public comment period. Criticisms included that the process seemed rushed, that the proposal did not have public support and that it would not affect students in the district’s older elementary schools. During the discussion, board members Grassi and Krenisky both mentioned that the proposal was recommended by neither the district nor the community members. “At least from my perspective, I don’t feel like we have enough information to move forward with a yes or no vote,” Grassi had said earlier in the meeting. She also said that the proposal would not address issues raised in a 2023 facility study, which affect the district’s four “legacy buildings” of the Riverside Campus, LaMuth and Buckeye and Melridge elementary schools. Grassi described the proposal as a “knee-jerk reaction” and said that the board did not have a long-term plan. She was also concerned that the costs of the addition could make it harder for the district to borrow money in the future to work on its other buildings. The three board members who voted in favor of the addition said that there are plans to build more houses in the area of eastern Painesville Township covered by Riverview. Brewster said that the additional houses could include 60 homes in the Fairway Pines development, 70 homes at the proposed Harbor Crossings development on Fairport Nursery Road and more than 1,300 homes in the proposed Villages of Casement development behind Riverview. “That portion of Painesville Township has a development pressure,” Keeney added. “Melridge, that community is pretty much built out. We won’t see much more pressure there. Buckeye, there’s still some, but that will peter out in the near future.” “So we know what’s coming down the line, we know what to expect, but we have to act on it, and we need to act sooner rather than later,” he said. Fishel added that the first students from the Casement development will enter Riverview in 2026. Brewster said that Riverview is also overcrowded, with some grade levels hosting five classes even though the building was only designed for four classes per grade level. Special needs classrooms and the music room have also been redirected to host other classes. Fishel added that Riverview is currently down three classrooms, since the two special needs rooms and the music room needed to be used for other purposes. He said that by building eight classrooms, there would still be five extra rooms at Riverview. Brewster said that adding space at Riverview could also allow the district to move preschool out of Buckeye and Melridge, freeing space at those schools while the district considers plans for those buildings. There was also disagreement about how long the project would take. Brewster said that the Riverview expansion could be done by next year while LaMuth would take two years. Grassi said that it would take two years for either project. According to a district presentation, the Riverview addition is expected to cost $5.9 million. It would also incur annual costs for one full-time employee per new grade level classroom, or up to three new full-time employees, along with three additional specials teachers and keeping a K-1 intervention specialist. The LaMuth addition was projected to cost $4.75 million. The district would need three to five fewer teachers, though it would need to hire an intervention specialist, possibly a second unit teacher and a counselor. District Treasurer Gary Platko said that the district would need the cash in hand when it signs a contract. He recommended using the district’s permanent improvement fund, with a current available cash balance of more than $6.7 million. The presentation stated that funds used for these immediate needs would not be available for other projects, including those mentioned in the facility condition assessment and an upcoming career technical education wing at the Riverside Campus.