Questions including those for the board to use in considering options were ready to go, said Liz Robbins, the district community relations coordinator.
“Our community members are all dealing with the issues that have arisen with this pandemic,” said board of education President Theresa Dunaway. “We will circle back to the survey, but won’t know when until we all have a few months of normalcy under our belts.”
The district in May 2019 saw a bond issue request defeated by around 200 votes. The board as recently as February had discussed the possibility of returning to voters with a funding request on the November presidential election ballot.
Dunaway referred questions on the possible construction project to board member Simon Patry, who joined the board in January and is serving on the district team looking at a project.
Patry said he intends to bring the construction issue up to fellow board members at their next meeting. “I feel it is a time pressing matter that needs to be pursued,” he said, stressing his comments were personal views and not meant to represent the board.
The board at a February work session heard an update on discussions with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and the work of the district team.
The project discussed again involved renovations of and a 94,000 square foot addition to L.T. Ball school for prekindergarten through grade five.
A three-building plan was discussed with the OFCC to include the new elementary, grades six-eight at the existing middle school and nine through 12 at the existing high school. The new school would replace the aging Broadway and Nevin Coppock elementary schools.
If the district and OFCC can agree on a plan, the district could receive 37 percent state funding for qualifying portions of a project. Those portions that do not qualify - such as building more square footage than OFCC stands allow - would be paid entirely by local tax dollars.
A proposal outlined briefly for the board in February by Gary Pfister, district director of services, had a $50.5 million price tag.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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