Kenmore is finally getting its long-promised school reboot. Akron Public Schools is set to break ground next Thursday at 11 a.m. on a $76 million Pre-K through eighth-grade campus that will combine Pfeiffer Elementary and the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts on the site of the former Kenmore High School. The new building is designed to house both schools under one roof and will turn most of the old high school footprint into green space, parking and two playgrounds. District leaders are selling the project as a long-awaited investment in a neighborhood that has watched school buildings close and sit empty.
Official timeline and site
The district's project page pegs the ceremonial groundbreaking for March 19 at 11 a.m. and notes that abatement and demolition work began in spring 2025, with the new campus targeted to open in August 2028, according to Akron Public Schools. The page also includes early renderings and a site plan for a single K–8 building that will house Pre-K–5 Pfeiffer and Miller South grades 4–8 on a shared campus.
What the campus will include
District officials say Pfeiffer and Miller South will share a cafeteria, auditorium and theater, plus a gym for both school and community events. Principals from both schools told local reporters they are pushing for updated classrooms, dressing rooms and performance support spaces that actually match how students learn and rehearse in 2026, not 1976. Those descriptions and the on-the-record comments from Debra Foulk, Tina McIntyre and Regina Anderson were reported by News 5 Cleveland.
Why the price climbed
Like most big construction plans these days, the price tag did not stay put. The project was first estimated at $63 million in July 2023 and has since been revised to roughly $76 million, a jump local reporting ties to inflation, higher labor costs and added square footage. Signal Akron has detailed how district leaders weighed several options, including trimming features or moving one of the schools elsewhere, before settling on a scaled-down plan that still keeps the combined campus in Kenmore.
Budget strain and next steps
The timing is tricky. The district is pushing ahead with construction while also weighing deep budget choices, including roughly $11 million in potential operating cuts. Leaders say broader financial plans are expected to be finalized and made public in April or May, according to reporting from News 5 Cleveland. School officials say continued design refinements and tight cost controls are meant to help close the financial gap while keeping the Kenmore project on schedule to open for students in fall 2028.
What to expect at the ceremony
The groundbreaking is scheduled for next Thursday at the construction site on the former Kenmore campus, where district staff will lay out the build schedule and what comes next. For community members who have tracked every meeting and rendering, the ceremony is a symbolic turning point. District officials are quick to add that the less glamorous work of finalizing funding details and design decisions will keep rolling through the spring, long after the shovels and photo ops are packed up.
