Yellow Springs Local Schools will start classes 11 days later than planned, on August 31, after construction crews told the district Friday that the middle and high school building on East Enon Road won't be ready for the original opening date. The delay is the latest wrinkle in a $55 million districtwide renovation project that has already reshaped Mills Lawn Elementary and is now creating scheduling headaches for families with kids at both campuses.
According to Springfield News-Sun, Mills Lawn School is expected to be completed by the new August 31 start date, but the middle school/high school campus will remain unfinished when classes begin. That means students who would normally attend the East Enon Road building will instead hold classes there alongside four classrooms set up at the district's Educational Service Center, an arrangement district officials say will stay in place through October 15.
Superintendent Megan Winston, who took over the district on August 1 after Dr. Terri Holden retired following seven years leading Yellow Springs schools, according to WHIO-TV, is now managing the fallout in her first month on the job. Winston said the changes surrounding the start of school create challenges for families, and noted that many households, including open-enrolled families, have children attending both campuses, which complicates the logistics of running the two buildings on different calendars, per the same account.
A Construction Timeline Still Taking Shape
District officials made the call to push back the opening after receiving more detailed information from the construction company Friday, the outlet reported. The temporary arrangement includes two non-school days built around October 15, and construction partners are described as optimistic that the remaining work on the middle and high school building could wrap up earlier than that target.
The broader project has already hit several milestones. Phase one and two renovations at Mills Lawn Elementary were completed in January 2026, and a new gymnasium for the middle and high school campus opened in May, according to The Xenia Gazette. The district is working with Ruetschle Architecture and Conger Construction Group on the overall renovation, which broke ground in 2024 and carries a master timeline targeting substantial completion of Mills Lawn in October 2026 and full completion of the middle and high school campus by December 2026, the Gazette reported.
What's Actually Being Rebuilt
The scope of work at East Enon Road is substantial. Engineering firm HEAPY describes the 98,641-square-foot middle and high school building as being converted into an all-electric facility serving 400 students, with complete mechanical and electrical system replacements alongside demolition of the old tower, band area, and what the firm calls the shoebox wing. Mills Lawn Elementary, by comparison, spans 47,470 square feet and serves 200 students; HEAPY notes it is funded as a Locally Funded Initiative, which carries different design standards than the state-co-funded secondary campus.
That state contribution comes from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, which is putting in $8.55 million toward the $55.3 million project alongside a local 7.9-mill bond issue and income tax levy, the Gazette reported in November 2023. Ohio voters in Yellow Springs approved that funding package, known as Issue 12, in November 2023 with 52 percent support, after rejecting earlier facility levies in May 2018, when a measure failed by 63 percent, and again in November 2021, according to WYSO.
How the District Is Paying for It
The financing behind the build is more complicated than a single bond issue. Municipal financial adviser Railey Bean Advisors structured the $55 million package by combining $26.63 million in general obligation bonds with roughly $28.7 million in certificates of participation, a structure designed to give the district early refinancing options, according to Citizen Portal.
The stakes of getting the construction and academic calendars aligned are significant for a district of Yellow Springs' size. Federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics puts total enrollment across the district's elementary and secondary programs at approximately 609 students for the 2024–2025 school year, meaning nearly every family in the community has some stake in how smoothly the transition back to a finished campus goes. For now, the district is betting that a short-term shuffle into shared space will hold until the middle and high school building is ready to reopen.
