Kent State and Bio-Med Science Academy STEM School have announced a new partnership in the form of a lease agreement to better serve the Kent State and Bio-Med communities. 

According to the press release, Bio-Med will move grades K-6 into the Michael Schwartz Center in fall 2027, combining its Shalersville and Ravenna campuses. Kent State will also keep its ROTC program in the building, but with separate access. 

With the Schwartz Center “facing significant infrastructure costs,” the partnership allows the building to be repurposed in a way that benefits the community without having to demolish or close the building, said Melody Tankersley, Kent State executive vice president and provost. 

This decision eliminates the approximate $800,000 cost for Kent State to maintain the building and Bio-Med is provided with “a fully equipped, accessible facility” without the cost of constructing one. The school will keep its secondary campus at the Rootstown location. 

There is not yet an established timeline of the move because Bio-Med will not be in the space until 2027, according to Dana Lawless-Andric, Kent State senior associate vice president. 

“Kent State, Bio-Med STEM Academy and the City of Kent will work together to assess traffic flow and school zone areas along with potential impacts,” Lawless-Andric said. 

Bio-Med’s K-6 Academy Director Tabatha England said the school is looking forward to the partnership, but “absolutes” about what the move will look like are still being negotiated. 

“The only things that are absolutes at this point is that we will be moving to the building and occupying that space,” England said. “Then, from there, everything else has still not been confirmed.”

The move will allow for extra space for learning, since Bio-Med is at capacity at both its grades K-4 Shalersville Campus and grades 5-6 Ravenna Campus. The school is also hoping to expand its enrollment, since the new campus will be closer to western parts of Portage County and the Summit area. 

The Kent location will give students opportunities to go on different field trips as well as having the opportunity to work with Kent State organizations and professors. 

“We’re excited, … all the opportunities that kind of revolve not only with Kent State, but also just being in Kent in general,”

England said. “The walking field trips that we’ll be able to take kids on and things that we’ll be able to do there in the city, compared to where we are now.”

England hopes that the partnership will allow students to grow their skills because they will be exposed to new resources within the City of Kent.

“I think there’s just a lot of opportunities for that authentic learning to grow and to be even stronger than what we’re doing now,” England said. 

England has heard positive feedback about the partnership from students and staff, with many asking questions about what the future of the school will look like. 

“The staff is super excited about it. The kids are excited about it.
[There’s been] lots of questions,” England said. “They want a lot of details that aren’t figured out yet, though.”

Amid the positive comments, England said some parents have expressed concern about transportation and what school districts will still bus students to the new campus. 

“That’s kind of been something that they’ve questioned, but we don’t have answers for right now,” England said. 

Having all grades in one building will allow for more learning opportunities for students. Currently, sixth grade students are pen pals with second grade students. Since the students are at separate campuses, the school has to pay for busing for them to meet. 

“When we’re all under the same roof there’s just gonna be so much more opportunity to build that leadership in our older students and have the younger students learning from the older students,” England said. “That shared integration piece is going to be able to be stronger than what we have now.”

Details about the move can be found on Bio-Med’s X and Facebook page, as well as its website, as more information is revealed. 

“I just want people to know that we’re coming in to be excited about this, and that hopefully they’re excited about it… if [faculty and students] have partnerships that they want us to consider coming up, they can reach out to us,” England said. “We can start those conversations because when we get to Kent, we want to be off and running.”

Loreal Puleo is a beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].