Upper Arlington City Schools Considers Moving Hastings Middle School To Thompson Park
What We Know & Current Updates

Upper Arlington City School's Considers Moving Hastings Middle School to Thompson Park

Upper Arlington City Schools (UACS) Launches Phase II of Facilities Master Plan.

Having completed Phase I of its Facilities Master Plan—a $230 million bond-funded initiative that delivered a new high school and the construction or renovation of five elementary schools—Upper Arlington City Schools (UACS) is now beginning Phase II of its facilities planning process.

Phase II focuses on the future of three key buildings: Burbank Early Childhood School, Hastings Middle School, and Jones Middle School. UACS is exploring options to repair, renovate, or rebuild each facility.

While cost estimates for these options have not yet been released, it is anticipated that funding will require a new bond issue, subject to approval by Upper Arlington voters.

More information about Phase II of the UACS Facilities Master Planning Process is available at the link below:

UACS Facilities Planning

UACS Community Survey

In March of this year, Upper Arlington City Schools (UACS) conducted a community survey to gather feedback on proposed options to repair, renovate, or rebuild Burbank Early Childhood School, Hastings Middle School, and Jones Middle School.

The district has published both a Survey Results Summary and a Detailed Feedback Report, which are available at the links below. Please note: the links will download PDF files to your device.

Overview of the Survey Results

Survey Feedback

Friends of Thompson Park requested and received UACS survey results and received a copy of the results on March 25th. To see the raw data collected by the district, click on the link below:

Raw UACS Survey Results (3-25-25)

Make Your Voice's Heard At UACS' upcoming Community Engagement Sessions in May 2025

UACS will host two Community Engagement Sessions to present revised planning options and cost estimates for Burbank, Hastings, and Jones. Friends of Thompson Park encourages residents to attend and share their perspectives—especially regarding the potential relocation of Hastings Middle School to Thompson Park.

Monday, May 12 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m in the Upper Arlington High School Amelita Mirolo Black Box Theatre, 1625 Zollinger Road
Tuesday, May 13 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m at the Graf Center, 2020 Builders Place

Friends of Thompson Park's Analysis of UACS' Master Plan Community Survey

As noted above, Friends of Thompson Park (FOTP) requested and received a copy of the survey results from Upper Arlington City Schools (UACS) on March 25. We appreciate UACS’s commitment to transparency throughout this process.

FOTP carefully reviewed the survey responses and removed all null or incomplete entries. Our goal was to evaluate the level of support for relocating Hastings Middle School from its current site. To do this, we categorized each response using the following scale:

1 – Respondent preferred repairing or renovating Hastings at its current location or strongly opposed any disruption to Thompson Park.
2 – Respondent supported rebuilding at the current Hastings site.
3 – Respondent expressed no clear preference regarding location.
4 – Respondent preferred rebuilding over renovation, with either no location preference or a slight preference for Thompson Park.
5 – Respondent strongly favored rebuilding Hastings at Thompson Park.

Our analysis found that of the 935 respondents, a large majority of respondents felt very strongly or strongly about keeping Hastings at its current location. 63% of respondents prefer keeping Hastings at its current location.

What some UACS survey respondents are saying about the move of Hastings to Thompson Park....

"Do not like the move to Thompson Park, leave the park alone. School should stay where it is."
Strongly opposed to relocating middle school to Thompson Park. It’s a beautiful park and should remain as such.
I do not like the idea of option C and moving the building to McCoy.
Don't ruin Thompson Park! Terrible idea.
Moving Hastings to Thompson Park is an awful idea. Residents love that park and purchased homes because it’s close to a park, not a middle school. We have lost enough green space in UA due to development. We should not lose anymore. Only a repair option should be considered at this time.
I dislike rebuild option C. I really am opposed to the idea of taking away from Thompson park for the school.
Horrified at the thought of option c rebuild.
The District has no business jockeying to build on our largest park, this idea is absurd and not realistic.
The school should stay on same premises. Please do not take away part of a park. This in my opinion is the best park in UA. Please don’t change it!
Option C should immediately be dismissed. Our city already has limited park and rec space, and Option C essentially removes 30% of our largest park. Traffic on Woodbridge and Lane Rd is already congested, and the school on that corner would be a logistics nightmare.
The idea to desecrate our largest public park is a non-starter. Get a clue.
Hate moving HMS to Thompson Park. Horrible idea. I am open to renovate or rebuild in current location.
Moving Hastings to Thompson Park on the McCoy Rd. side is ridiculous. The park is used constantly with soccer, movies in the park, concerts, people walking with or without dogs.

Also, I am totally against moving Hastings to Thompson Park. we do not have enough parkland on the north side of UA already and this would make matters worse.
I strongly disagree with placing a Middle School at Thompson Park. There are so many residents that walk in Thompson Park on a daily, or twice, or three times a day. The aesthetics of the park would be very negatively and adversely impacted if a Middle School was placed there.
We go to Jones not Hastings but I would hate to see any changes to Thompson Park so I definitely vote against Rebuild Option C.
The land swap would wipe out so many trees that it would be detrimental to the environment there and certainly to the homeowners whose reason for living there may indeed be the trees and trails.
Do not move Hastings middle-school to Thompson! That would be too disruptive and expensive.
Critical to preserve green space of Thompson Park and also avoid what is already a safety nightmare along McCoy for pedestrians and cars.
It should absolutely not be moved to Thompson Park. That is ridiculous.
Rebuild option C is unacceptable and a horrible waste of resources. Do not destroy a beautiful green space when other options are available.
I am not in favor of relocating Hastings Middle School. Thompson Park should not be altered for this purpose.
Do not destroy Thompson Park
Please do not ruin Thompson Park. Find any other option available to remain on existing property.
Passionately opposed to using ANY part of Thompson Park for the new middle school. Will organize and fight the city should this be considered. Any additional levy will NOT pass if Thompson Park option is considered.
I do not want to see part of Thompson Park used to build a school. It is the nicest park in the city and would be ruined by a school.
I absolutely do not like taking away park space for a school.
Rebuild Option C will take away recreational space necessary to the health and well-being of UA residents.
Thompson Park is one of the best open land and remaining green spaces remaining in Upper Arlington.
Rebuild Option C is a big loud no. How could you even entertain this idea and why? There aren't any large parks in this part of UA.

FOTP's Survey Analysis

Friends Of Thompson Park's 3D rendering of what a move of Hastings to Thompson Park might look like.

The 2D image in the UACS slide deck doesn’t fully convey the potential impact of relocating Hastings to Thompson Park. Using tools like Google Maps, Google Earth, and 3D rendering software, FOTP has developed a scaled visualization of what the new middle school could look like. We expect the eastern section of the park to be raised to match the height of the western side, across from the walkway. The middle school floors are projected to range between 14 and 20 feet in height.

Take a closer look at the rendering—what’s missing? One significant change we anticipate is the removal of the east-west tree line, visible in the middle of the Google Maps screenshot to the right. This line includes approximately 200 mature trees that would be destroyed. Additionally, the South Shelter, two soccer fields on the eastern side near Mountview, and several memorial benches donated in honor of the community, as well as the area where the school buildings and expanded fields will be situated north of the central tree line, could also be lost.

Using Google Maps and Google Earth we were able to render a 3D image of what the new Hastings Middle School might look like. What the rendering doesn't say is how much the new middle school will consume of Thompson Park. We estimate that the new building and athletic amenities will consume approximately 31% of the existing park. More importantly, it will also consume approximately 51% of the available green space (open fields). To move Hastings to Thompson in the space allocated by UACS, approximately 200 mature trees, two soccer fields, a shelter house, and many memorial benches will have to be removed.

Upper Arlington City Schools Considers Moving Hastings Middle School To Thompson Park What We Know & Current Updates