CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) – The consensus among the Canfield School Board and its Citizens Facilities Committee seems to be that there is no ideal plan for constructing new buildings. That consensus was reiterated several times Thursday evening at a meeting between the two groups as they continue to search for a plan that voters might approve.

Early in Thursday’s meeting, school board member Dave Wilkeson summed up the general theme.

“When you look big picture, the options aren’t great, like, none of the options are really great,” explained Wilkeson.

Superintendent Joe Knoll, however, presented something to consider.

Phase 1 – Build a new middle school on Shields Road and renovate the high school.

Phase 2 — Demolish the current middle school and build a new K-4 elementary school on the site.

Phase 3 — Renovate Hilltop as an administration building and demolish C.H. Campbell.

Not everyone, however, agreed on the Shields Road site, such as former Mayor Richard Duffett.

“You’re going to have to jump through a lot of holes with ODOT — I can tell you that from being mayor — and there are tons. To get a light there, to widen that out, traffic study,” said Duffett.

The Shields Road site is Canfield Township and not Canfield City.

Canfield City Councilman Anthony Nacarato expressed concerns over the location.

“You move that middle school to Shields Road, you’re not going to have Canfield police in one of your buildings,” explained Nacarato.

But one facilities committee member was OK with Shields Road and had no problem with leaving the middle school site vacant.

“I don’t get it. Why would you try and jam a school there on that small piece of property everybody’s talked about?” a facilities committee member asked.

One facilities committee member suggested buying private property, but a site being considered was said to be too costly. Another committee member told the school board that the committee had already made a recommendation that did not include Shields Road and that the board was setting up a levy for failure.

But school board member Bob Smallwood said Shields Road remains in play.

“We’re trying to come up with the best solution and then one of the things we wanted to talk about was reconsidering that Shields Road property,” said Smallwood.

The meeting ended without the school board making a decision on a final plan. To get a levy on the November ballot, a decision must be made by June 30. The next board meeting is scheduled for June 14.