Monday, November 27, 2006
The school district is creating a survey that will be mailed to residents.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- The Springfield School District will soon take the next step toward its proposed building/renovation project by scheduling several community input meetings early next year.
School officials said the meetings will allow district residents to offer feedback on the proposed effort.
"This is the next logical step of several steps," explained schools Superintendent Debra Mettee. "The more people involved the better. We're hoping our residents take an active part in this process, and we're going to do what we can to encourage that participation."
The school district is also creating a survey that will be mailed to residents.
Earlier this month, Springfield Board of Education hired Olsavsky Jaminet Architects, Youngstown, to help the school district develop a master plan. The architect's representatives, at a recent board of education meeting, advised school officials to make an effort to get the community involved as much as possible.
Working with OSFC
The company will be working with the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission to evaluate the district's buildings to determine what work needs to be done to upgrade the facilities, and whether the buildings should be remodeled or the district should construct new facilities.
Springfield is one of several area school districts considering working with the OSFC to upgrade its facilities. OSFC typically provides a percentage of the overall cost to either renovate school buildings or construct new facilities, with the remainder of the funding to come from district residents.
Springfield is due to receive financial assistance from the state next year.
Based on the district's financial need, if Springfield was to work with the OSFC, the state would kick in 65 percent of the overall cost to renovate buildings or build new ones. School officials have said it's likely the district will need to build a new high school and elementary school and renovate the intermediate school.
Enrollment
Early on, OSFC projected that district enrollment would be declining. Projected enrollment and financial need are two key elements in the OSFC's determination of the amount of money the state will offer and the type of assistance it will provide. The state typically uses projected enrollment to determine the size and structure of the facilities.
The district has discussed possible building configurations -- the construction of a new elementary and high school and the option of building one facility that would house grades kindergarten through 12.
"If we were to build based on those enrollment projections and then see growth, we're concerned about where we would put our students," said Peggy Jones, board of education president. "We're worried about what we'll do with these students space-wise if we build based on our current projections."
Mettee said she challenged the state's projections early on, and they were slightly revised. The district is considering working with consultants to determine whether there is any basis for challenging the state's projections again.