The new Firestone High School and Litchfield Middle School buildings opened for classes Thursday and booster clubs are targeting the site of the former high school for a $2.3 million multipurpose facility for the athletic programs and band.
The new Firestone and Litchfield schools are each three-story structures that are a combined 378,000 square feet and cost about $83 million to build. The schools were built on the same tract of land that they used to occupy, but the front of the high school now faces Castle Boulevard, and the front of the middle school now faces Fairfax Road.
The old Litchfield was demolished a few years ago as construction got underway for the two newest community learning centers in the Akron Public Schools district, but the old Firestone remains on Rampart Avenue.
Chris Niekamp, the Firestone girls and boys soccer teams booster club president, said the plan is for the facility to feature a synthetic turf field, an all-weather rubberized track surface with accompanying field event areas, energy efficient lights, a grass field, restrooms, a scoreboard, a concession stand, bleachers and a storage building.
Upgrades sought
The new Firestone features several modern structures within the school that fit with its music, arts, science, math and engineering programs. There is a theater, dance studio, planetarium and gymnasium to go along with an atrium and courtyard.
Joe Vassalotti, Akron Public Schools athletic director, acknowledges the district as a whole “needs upgrades on our athletic facilities” and likes that the Firestone boosters are seeking donations from businesses and individuals.
“This is a tremendous opportunity spearheaded by the booster clubs at Firestone to upgrade the basic facilities that are going in,” Vassalotti said. “It would potentially benefit not only Firestone, but the entire Akron Public Schools.
“An eight-lane, all-weather track, for example, would enable APS to hold track meets there. A turf field would enable us to host soccer games there and potentially ninth-grade and JV football games. Being a multi-use facility, the community usage of the facility would be year-round. It would benefit that entire area in the city. Not only the high school and middle school kids would use it, but community organizations would use it as well.”
Vassalotti said the field project at Firestone is not an APS project.
“We are assisting from behind the scenes, but not taking the lead on it,” he said. “We were approached by the boosters at Firestone with this idea and met with them a few times, and that included our superintendent [David James], but now the boosters are organizing the effort with help from Dot Org Solutions to market the plan.”
Firestone and Litchfield are the 30th and 31st buildings in the past decade to open in the district with improved technology. The $800 million school construction program has included elementary schools in the Firestone cluster (Resnik, Portage Path and King are open and construction at Case is underway), and other elementary and middle schools in the other six clusters. New high schools for East and Buchtel opened in recent years.
“The funds that have been allocated for the outdoor practice facilities would come through the construction money, and that is partly from the state of Ohio, the APS and the taxpayers of Akron,” Vassalotti said. “That original plan would include two grass practice fields and one cinder track. The vision of the Firestone boosters is to upgrade.”
The earliest the venue could open would be in 2017.
“This could be a real community asset for people in West Akron,” Niekamp said. “They could use this facility for training and for exercise. We are looking for a local champion to help kick off this project. We are reaching out to companies and individuals to see who wants to be part of this and is willing to donate money.”
Niekamp said Firestone’s soccer, track and field, cross country, football, wrestling and band booster clubs are all involved in the project. Amy Wong and Sara Lundenberger of Dot Org Solutions LLC are providing guidance to the booster clubs, and set up a website and a Facebook account.
“We are helping multiple booster clubs raise private money for the project,” Wong said.
Interested donors can pledge money by going to www.firestonefieldproject.com or https://firestonefieldproject.networkforgood.com/projects/15555-track-and-multipurpose-field-project or www.facebook.com/firestonefieldproject.
Checks can also be made out to PNC Bank, 1 Cascade Plaza, Fourth Floor, Attention Brian Ray, Akron, OH 44308-1128.
Playing at home
The Firestone project is very similar to a lot of the recent athletic facilities that have been built or renovated at nearby suburban and private schools.
“It would be nice to play our home games at the school,” Niekamp said. “We play all of our home games at Copley Road Soccer Complex, and we only have three or four home games for the girls this year. Most places we go to, they have nice fields, they play at night, there is a scoreboard, lights and turf fields. A lot of different communities have fields dedicated for just soccer or they have turf and have a multipurpose field.
“A lot of these schools have these nice environments, but at Firestone, we don’t have that luxury. It has become a dream for the soccer programs to get something nicer for the teams. All of our home games have to be played when the sun is shining. We start at 4 or 5 o’clock and it is hard for the parents to get there, and it is not quite the same experience. We do appreciate Copley Road. Those are nice fields with natural grass and they are well maintained . . . but we have decided we want to try to get our own field.”
Niekamp said Firestone’s track and field program “is interested in enhancing the original cinder track plans and have their own home meets because all of their home meets are at Ellet.” The Falcons’ football, cross country, volleyball, swimming, wrestling, basketball, baseball and softball teams would also benefit from having an upgraded outdoor facility.
Vassalotti is confident the Firestone field project can happen, and said he would to like to see Ellet have an updated stadium to go with its new school when it opens in a few years.
“It would be ideal to have a multi-use turf stadium with an all-weather eight-lane track on each side of the city, one on the west side and one on the east side,” Vassalotti said. “That would take private financing and sponsorship from local businesses and individuals. The Firestone boosters have taken the lead for fundraising on this one. Something similar would have to happen at Ellet.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.