District Superintendent Rick Hanes said the consolidation and new construction would save the district millions of dollars now incurred to run and maintain the existing elementary schools, some dating to the 1920s. The estimated cost to renovate all of the schools to be replaced in consolidation and construction was more than $59 million, while the new construction is around $55 million. The district’s other buildings are the high school, built about 30 years ago, and the junior high, which is about 10 years old.
“Our staff is doing a great job of making do with the old, but it is catching up with us. There is only so much you can do,” Hanes said.
Molly Hay, Springcreek Elementary principal, said lack of an elevator in the 1922 building means a parent or grandparent usually is turned away from any public event held in the upstairs auditorium.
She showed visitors around the school where walls are crumbling. Classrooms are warm on a nearly 80-degree fall day and crowded as students are joined by computers and other technology not around when the building was new.
“The students of Piqua deserve an opportunity with the best environment, the best facilities,” Hay said.
“It comes down to what we share with people: Pay a little now or continue to pay to maintain our buildings. Eventually, something is going to have to be done. And, when it is done, you will be paying a lot later because the state is not going to pay 47 percent,” Hanes said. “It is pay a little now, or pay a lot more later.”
More information on the bond issue and proposed project is available at www.cfqps.org or by calling Hanes at (937) 773-4321.
Contact this writer at nancykburr@aol.com or (937) 339-4371.
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