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BOE takes steps to place issue on ballot
By Mary Smith
MINERAL RIDGE
The Weathersfield Board of Education has passed the first of several resolutions needed to possibly put a school bond issue on the November ballot.
The district has learned that it is eligible for a higher dollar amount of participation from the state’s Ohio School Facilities Commission.
The state’s share will increase from 60 percent to 65 percent of the cost of a potential new schools project, and the local share would be 35 percent instead of 40 percent, schools Superintendent Damon Dohar said.
Passage by the local district of a bond issue would be the first requirement to get a new OSFC grant.
The superintendent said the percentages changed because enrollment at the district has been maintained better than the state originally thought it would, which gives the district a chance to get more funding to do more.
A resolution declaring the district a “special needs” district, which states that current sites, buildings and facilities do not meet the needs of the students, was approved by the board. The state superintendent must approve the designation and permission is needed to place a bond issue on the ballot from the state superintendent of Instruction and the state tax commissioner.
Board member Tracy Thomas said: “We are discussing it and looking at all options.”
A more detailed plan is expected to be ready by a board meeting at 1:30 p.m. June 29 at the middle school.
The district has to completely re-apply for a new OSFC grant for facilities after its previous approval for an $19 million project lapsed because local funding was not secured in the time allowed. The grant from the state was $10.611 million and an $8.4 million local share was expected.
Two attempts failed in 2009 to get local voters to approve a 6.4-mill bond issue and a 1.6-mill permanent improvement levy, totaling $8.4 million, for the district’s share of the project.
The plan under review is to remodel the high school building to make it a grade seven-through-12 school building, and tearing down part of Seaborn Elementary and rebuilding it to make it ready for use for kindergarten through sixth grade. The old plan called for the building to be a K-8 building. The middle school will still be torn down in the new plan except for the gym, bus garage and cafeteria.
No costs are available yet because Dohar said he is waiting for estimates.
In other business, the board has hired Robert Martinko of Poland to be new middle school principal, replacing Pete Santore, who resigned.
Martinko was hired under a three-year contract from 2011 to 2014, starting Aug. 1, and will earn $67,417 in the first year, $68,654 in the second year and $69,891 in the third year.
Martinko is a graduate of Gannon College, and also attended Youngstown State University for additional certification for secondary principalship and superintendent’s certification. He has been assistant principal at Glenwood Middle School in Boardman for six years and was assistant principal at Campbell Memorial High School from 2003 to 2005. Before that, he was a math teacher at Poland Seminary High School for 28 years.