NORWOOD — Residents will have an opportunity Wednesday to help decide the future of the district's schools.

        The steering committee of the Norwood Facilities Committee is holding a Community Dialogue that begins at 7 p.m., in the high school gymnasium.

        There, consultants DeJong & Associates will lead discussions centering on whether residents want neighborhood schools, whether the middle school should continue to house grades six through eight, and which, if any, schools should be torn down. Those in attendance will also be asked to complete surveys.

        “I'm thinking positively. We're setting up for 400 people,” said Superintendent Barbara Rider. “We're hopeful we can do what the community wants us to do.”

        The dialogue was prompted by an Ohio School Facilities Commission report that calls for the district to abandon all its schools except the high school, building either two or three new elementary schools and a middle school. The price tag is $39 million to $40 million depending on the configuration, said Cary Furniss, school treasurer.

        Ms. Rider said the commission has been working with school officials and the steering committee for several months to develop a master plan that works for the community but still meets state standards. The cost would be split with the state with the school board paying 63 percent and the state paying 37 percent. Norwood would receive its share in about 2009, Ms. Rider said.

        Most of the district's buildings were constructed between 1910 and 1917 and sit on 2-4 acres. The cost to renovate all the buildings except Norwood High School, built in 1972, would be at least two-thirds the cost to build new schools.

        The commission's guidelines also call for elementary schools to be built on almost six acres of land, middle schools on 15 acres and high schools on 22 acres. The district's largest site, where both the middle and high schools sit, is only 11.3 acres, Ms. Rider said.

        Whatever the final plan becomes, it would be for a smaller enrollment. For the past 20 years enrollment has been on the decline in this blue-collar community. Ten years ago, there were 3,745 students enrolled in the district. It has dropped to about 2,900 this year and projections call for 2,554 students by 2004.

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