CLEVELAND — A big change is coming to the small but mighty charter school, Innovation Academy West, in Cleveland. After years of planning, fundraising, and advocating, the school will soon break ground on a new gymnasium, which principal Maria Hejnal-Dormer
says is desperately needed.
“The students have grown and we have more students coming in every year so we need more space,” said Hejnal-Dormer. “The only way we can continue to grow is with space.”
Hejnal-Dormer says she calls the space “‘our café-gym-atorium.’ It’s a little bit of cafeteria, a little bit of gymnasium, a little bit of auditorium.” As she explained, “right after breakfast we immediately have turnover from breakfast to PE, especially during these winter months. Then after that it switches again to our lunch then switches back to PE then at the very end of the day it switches over to an auditorium for dismissal and for any sort of announcements and things that we need to.”
With each daily transition, the multipurpose room seems to be caving in on a growing school.
“Mr. Williams, he’s our art slatch PE teacher. So, he’s always trying to get creative with the plans that he’s doing in there because of the space, because of the height,” Hejnal-Dormer said.
But this won’t be the case much longer.
The school recently approved expansion renderings for the new space, which will make way for everyone in the “Between the Bridges” area.
“A community space like this is not going to just benefit us as a school but also will benefit the community as well because we want to have them here,” said Hejnal-Dormer.
