Board to rethink plans

The board said Saturday that it definitely won't go back on the ballot in May.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The Boardman school board will rethink its proposed building improvement plans before going back to the taxpayers for another vote on a borrowing plan.
Based on the fact that voters have turned down a 3.5-mill bond issue in November and again earlier this month, going back on the ballot in May "would be utterly foolish," said Dr. Robert DeMarco, board vice president.
"We're not going to go forward with anything in May," said Kenneth J. Beraduce, board president, after a special board meeting Saturday to review the results of the Feb. 6 primary that saw the bond issue defeated by 2,600 votes. The same issue was defeated by 1,000 votes in November.
The issue would have allowed the school district to borrow 51.5 million through the sale of bonds to be repaid over 28 years from the proceeds of the 3.5 mill tax. The money borrowed would have been used to renovate all seven of Boardman's buildings.
Board member Niklaus E. Amstutz said the district needs to regroup and decide where it wants to go in terms of building improvements.
Beraduce asked board members to begin thinking about what the district needs to do and different ways to do it.
Superintendent Frank Lazzeri suggested the district needs to take a more creative approach than just asking voters to approve borrowing money to renovate old buildings.
Realignment
Boardman might want to look at realignment, something the district studied several years ago, as one approach, Lazzeri said. That could involve taking the fourth grade out of the four elementary schools to free up space and get rid of portable classrooms and replacing Center Middle School with a fourth-fifth-sixth-grade building, he said.
Proposing the construction of a new, modern building might be the impetus needed to garner broader community support, he said.
Changing plans could also reduce the amount of money needed to be borrowed, Lazzeri said, suggesting that the realignment plan might cost 20 million or 25 million and other needed improvements could be done over a period of time using permanent improvement funds.
"This has to be community driven," Lazzeri said. People have to be motivated to lead the way, he said.
DeMarco said one way to broaden the approach would be to go after big business in Boardman, enlisting companies in support of a plan.
Those businesses rely on a healthy community to survive. If the schools and community deteriorate and die, they die, he said.
Board member Kimberly S. Poma was unable to attend the meeting but participated by conference telephone, saying that she agreed going back to the voters in May would be a mistake and that she likes Lazzeri's suggestion to get creative, perhaps come up with a less costly project and find ways to elicit broader community support.
Community survey
Lazzeri said he wants to use the Friends of Boardman Schools to conduct a community survey before plans are finalized. That can be done at no cost to the district, he said.
Beraduce pointed out that Boardman has three renewal tax levies coming up that it also must worry about.
There are two operating levies with effective rates of 5.44 mills and 1.65 mills and a permanent improvement renewal with an effective rate of 0.9 mills. The two operating levies generate a combined 6.5 million a year while the improvement levy generates 900,000 annually.
All three could be on the ballot as soon as November, Beraduce said.
gwin@vindy.com