Was anyone really mad at the BOE/

The firing of the coaches by the City School Board caused an eruption of sentiment that ranged from support, to get rid of all of them. I wrote on Countynewsonline.org after it happened and offered a couple of solutions for the problem of dealing with this board. There was a recall petition of all of the board. That is a simple matter; all it takes is identifying the act that would warrant the recall, (which might be a problem) getting the petition signed by the correct number of people and then having it placed on the ballot. I haven’t heard of THAT happening yet..
Then I mentioned taking out a petition and gathering the correct amount of signatures to get your name placed on the ballot to actually run against these people that no one seems to like. I don’t think that’s happened yet. I also made mention that if we the people got rid of them, their names wouldn’t be on the brass plaque in the hall way of the new school. That would fix them! (OUCH!)
One of the board members questioned me on my motives for offering these suggestions, especially the first one and the last one. Well you see, I’ve watched things here for a long time. Previously some people would write letters to the editor where they had to sign their name. Now with chat boxes on two local web pages, there exists the ability to publish in print ones likes and dislikes without ever identifying one’s self. My suggestions were met exactly how I figured they’d be met. Absolutely nothing happened and they are still talking today.
If anything, some of the biggest complainers stopped complaining. That’s probably a good thing. What it says is that a lot of people complain for an opportunity to vent. They have no intention of actually doing anything about the problem, if in fact one actually exists. There was obviously some sort of problem with the coaches in question and perhaps we just don’t need to drag them through the mud any more than has already been done. Perhaps we don’t really need to know why they were fired. By the same token, the board making decisions with an empty gallery at most board meetings doesn’t say a whole lot about the rest of the people living in the district. That’s probably the place to do your complaining, before the fact, not after.
So since the board isn’t getting impeached and no one is running against them, that part is over with. Now to the task at hand.
We need to do something about our antique school buildings. We have five of them. They range in age from 100 years old to 50 years old. The 50 year old one is still acceptable mostly because of construction practices that were used in the 1960’s when it was built. The rest of the buildings are falling apart. That isn’t because they’ve not been taken care of, it’s because you can only fix things so many times, and these buildings are at their limit.
The energy inefficiency is only a part of the problem of the high cost to run these buildings. The roofs leak, the pipes leak, the pipes are buried in the floors, the electrical panels are obsolete and on and on. in May we had the good foresight to pass an operating levy to keep the district going. That was a good thing. A new building that will operate at half the cost of the old ones will guarantee that the operating levy will serve us well for a long time. Now we have an opportunity to have the State of Ohio share in the cost of a new energy efficient building and even pay for the dismantling of the old buildings. If we keep the situation the way it is, we are just throwing good operating money after bad situations.
Joe Payne was correct in his recent article, just because one thinks that the board made a mistake on the coaches doesn’t give the rest of us the right to make a mistake on funding a new school. The last generation of people to have had to worry about a new school is almost extinct. Let’s don’t try to compare apples and oranges anymore. The new school is a separate issue and needs the attention of all of us to get all of the facts and make an intelligent decision on voting day.
Traditionally about 30% of the 15,374 registered voters in the Greenville City School  District vote on issues. In May when the operating levy was on the ballot 20% of the 15,000 people voted. So much for complaining where it really counts.

Next Step Coming Soon

The next step in getting a new school is to educate everyone in the district.  You all  need to know what is happening, how the new building will be paid for and everything about it. This will be done by a series of presentations throughout the district.  In these presentations local people will talk to their neighbors about the process, what the school will look like and why the design was chosen. The presentations will be developed soon and we are looking for volunteers to help with all parts of the project.  If you are interested in helping on any part of the project, send an email to greenvilleschoolcommitte@live.com and someone will contact you.

What's next

We have gotten through the development phase of deciding what new school building should be built and the committee chose a K-8 building.  Now comes the hard  part.  Funding this building.  Funding will come from a new school levy for 60% of the money.  Forty percent will come from the State of Ohio funding.  This "campaign" will be starting soon and will include informational sessions with any group who wants to know what is going on.  Information will be posted on this blog as well as the Advocate, Darke Journal, County News Online, Wave 96 and hopefully the Early Bird.  This will be good, correct information and hopefully will only have to be done one time. More soon.

Good Info on the Schools Project

As we move through the process of selecting a building to build and ways to promote it and pay for it, there will always be different opinions, different interpretations and in general, different ways of looking at the issue.  This blog will always try to provide current information about the meetings and new issues that pop up.  Darke Journal has an excellent page right now (Link to DJ) which address the issue as well as the Daily Advocate.  Wave 96 has committed to keeping everyone abreast on the situation.  Best of all people have started reading the information and asking good, intelligent, constructive questions.  Hopefully this will continue.  As time goes on, the committee will get information a little more coordinated, but make sure to check all the sources all the time.

Greenville Schools Facility Meeting 5/17/2011

The Greenville Schools Facility Meeting was held on Tuesday evening in the Anna Bier room of Memorial Hall with 31 people present from all over the district.  There was an enormous amount of discussion on all issues but only two things to vote on:

1. Which building plan to go with ?
2. Should we put a bond levy on the ballot in November?

The first question was pretty easy.  Almost everyone voted for Plan B. this is the K-8 building that we looked at last week and can be seen here. There will be further information forthcoming on this plan.
This plan allows the district to build one building for K-8 as well as begin the refurbishing process on the existing high school.  The existing high school is the only building in the district that complies with current Ohio School Standards. As shown here the building consists basically of two wings one for the lower grades and one for the upper grades housed on two floors.  The athletic fields are not in the plan now but are on the drawing to show how things will fit and these can be developed later.  Busses will be able to pick up and drop off students in two areas thus eliminating the comingling of older with younger students.
The number 2 question was so easy.  Should the Board of Education put this to a vote in the November election.  There were some outside factors.  First there is a bill in the legislature that may eliminate special elections, limiting then number of times the issue could be put on the ballot.  The other point of contention is that the Greenville Library is also asking for money on that election.  Unfortunately, it will be listed as “”Greenville Schools Library” which could put a damper on the actual school issue.  At any rate, the number 2 question passed so it will be on the November ballot if the board chooses to put it there.
All of this will be presented to the Board of Education at the May 24th meeting.  It will then be up to them to move forward. This has all been a very positive experience for everyone involved.  It has allowed a lot of people from all over the district to have input, understand what is going on and take things back to their neighbors.  Feedback has been mostly positive. Now comes the job of educating everyone in the district on the project.
To keep things in perspective, this year marks the 100th birthday of the South School.  No one is around who built it to celebrate.  Let’s hope that is true of the new building in 100 years.
More later on funding, the campaign and other issues of building a new building.

NOTE:

Numbers on each rendition of a building for the state participation and the GCSD won't add up to the total. This is because of Locally Funded Initiatives (LFi's).  LFI's are additions to the project that we have felt were needed  and the state won't help fund.  This isn't to say that they will always be on the budget per say but were needed in the proposal to keep the funding sources straight.  As things go on, they may be removed or be allowed or simply kept in place.  Some will also be phased in. Coming soon, a list of LFI's for you to consider.