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Poland school board votes to participate in state program to build new schools
POLAND
The board of education formally authorized the school district’s participation in a state program that helps districts build new facilities.
All four members of the five-person board who were present at a special meeting Monday voted to enter the Ohio School Facilities Commission’s Classroom Facilities Assistance Program.
The state will cover 19 percent of the estimated $37.6 million cost to build new K-fifth-grade and sixth-eighth-grade buildings. The board previously voted to put a 34-year bond issue on the November ballot that would cover the school district’s estimated $30.4 million cost.
Officials, who first began exploring the possibility last year, say the decision is a response to combined factors of a sharp decline in enrollment and infrastructure issues at most of the district’s six school buildings.
The board’s resolution allows the district to participate in a segmented program, a decision that the state approved. That will allow the board to go back to the state for funding and put another bond issue on the ballot sometime in the future if a decision is made to renovate the high school. Renovations to the high school are not included in the current project.
“People thought that was too big a number. People didn’t think the high school needed to be done,” said Superintendent David Janofa of the estimated 7-mill bond issue that would have required.
District officials estimate the bond issue on the November ballot will be between 4.7 and 4.9 mills, but the exact millage has yet to be determined. Officials previously provided an estimate that a 4.78-mill bond issue would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $167.23 annually. Included in the millage will be 0.5 mills for maintenance of the new facilities, which the state requires of the district.
Board members and Janofa discussed other aspects of the project, such as the possibility of locally funded initiatives they could add to the current plan. Janofa also asked the board to consider specific design plans, such as how to include features such as an auditorium in a cost-effective manner.
“The biggest thing to figure out is do you want a one-story or two-story building?” Janofa said, adding the decision will drive the rest of the design plans.
In other business, the board voted not to renew the contract of the district transportation supervisor, Janet Marstellar, effective at the end of her 2014-15 contract.
Janofa declined to comment on the specifics of the nonrenewal, saying, “We’re going to move in a different direction. Janet has done a nice job the past two years, but there are some things we need to work on and improve.”