Streetsboro residents will vote on the fate of a new high school today. If approved, a new high school could be opened as early as 2008.

A $38.4 million bond issue is on the ballot to cover construction, infrastructure and equipment costs of a new high school complex.

This is not the first time the school board has tried to get voter support. Residents defeated a similar issue last November.

This time around, the millage has been reduced to 5.99 mills because of the increasing number of residents in Streetsboro. The more property owners the city has, the more people there are to share in the cost, which would create a slight decrease in the average cost per person.

According to the Streetsboro City Schools Web site, Streetsboro has become the sixth-fastest growing community in the state of Ohio, and it is among the top five in Northeastern Ohio.

Superintendent Tom Giovangnoli said student enrollment has been increasing by about 5 percent each year since 2000.

“That’s roughly a hundred kids, if you look at the size of the district,” Giovangnoli said. “So that means we should be hiring four teachers, based on a class size of 25 students per teacher, and we would need two additional buses for the additional students.”

Current student enrollment stands at 2,100 students for the entire district.

The original high school was intended for 750 students when it was built in the 1960s. Giovangnoli said the high school enrollment is about 650.

The proposed high school would cover 165,000 square feet and be capable of holding 1,500 students with room for expansion. The new school also would have 40 classrooms, or almost double the amount of the old school.

Among the features of a new school would be two gymnasiums, an amphitheater and numerous athletic practice fields. Todd Puster, the school board’s treasurer, does not believe these additions raise the cost of a new school.

“An amphitheater is not a lot of money,” Puster said. “The seating would be grass, and we would only run power to it. It would be simple and straightforward to help bolster community involvement.”

Puster also said state law mandates two gymnasiums in schools for 800 students or more.

Contact public affairs reporter Matt Fredmonsky at [email protected]