Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Pickerington considers redistricting as school-crowding solution
By ALAINA FAHY
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
afahy@nncogannett.com
PICKERINGTON - During the two Pickerington high schools' graduation ceremonies in June, seniors giving speeches talked about the heartbreak of being separated from best friends as one high school became two.
The Pickerington Local Schools Board of Education is considering moving students and faculty again.

At a meeting Monday night, school board members discussed short-term options for coping with growth during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years.
One option was redistricting. The board talked about dividing at least 251 fifth- and sixth-grade students at Heritage Middle School between Diley and Harmon Middle Schools. The board predicts about 32 additional students at Heritage Middle School by next year.
''It's a difficult situation,'' Pickerington Schools' Superintendent Robert Thiede said about the growth in the district. ''There are no clear-cut solutions.''
The redistricting would help provide the 19 to 20 additional classrooms needed to accommodate kindergarten through fourth-grade students at Heritage Elementary School.
Diley and Harmon middle schools would need a total of five modular classroom units to accommodate additional students from Heritage, Thiede said.
Board member Jim Brink said he thinks new modular units cost about $75,000 to $90,000. And set-up for electricity and heat per unit can cost about $20,000.
Heritage Elementary and Heritage Middle are next door to each other at 100 East St., Pickerington.
Brink said the two schools could combine to be one elementary school if plans are made to redistrict.
Brink said the board is only beginning discussion on redistricting. No plans are official. He said students' home addresses would determine whether they go to Diley or Harmon middle schools.
He was not sure how the teachers would be reassigned to other schools.
No lines for redistricting are in place right now, Brink said.
Originally published January 24, 2006

More on meeting

(I had to cut out the Westerville stuff to fit in here)

2 districts face tough choices

Pickerington to try levy again; Westerville may raise sport fees

By Charlie Roduta and Mary C . Bridgman THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


One central Ohio school district decided last night to ask voters in May for money for buildings and another wrestled with possible cuts that could include extracurricular programs.
For the fourth time since November 2004, Pickerington school board members plan to ask voters on May 7 for money to build schools.
Although exact millage hasn?’t been decided, the bond issue likely would be similar to one that voters rejected in November.
Meanwhile, the Westerville school board discussed dropping all extracurricular activities or charging high-school athletes $600 to $1,800 per sport if a May levy request fails.
***
The Pickerington bond issue that failed in November was for $37 million and would have cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $76 more a year. It would have paid for two elementary schools as well as land and several improvement projects.
''Two elementaries is a barebones need for this district,?’?’ board President Lisa Reade said. ''If we wait too long, it will get much bigger.?’?’
With a 5-mill operating levy that will expire at the end of 2007, the board also has to consider asking voters to approve a levy. But board members agreed they?’ll wait until November to do that.
Pickerington board members also talked about a short-term plan to house an estimated 340 elementary students for the next two school years.
That?’s the number of new students expected. The hope is that a bond issue will take care of the problem when schools are built.
One option would move middle-school students out of Heritage Elementary to Diley and Harmon middle schools. Fifthand sixth-graders were moved to Heritage about three years ago to ease overcrowding at Harmon and Diley.
Board members plan to move two portable units to Diley and purchase three more for Harmon to house the additional students.
Last year, more than 650 elementary students were housed in portable classrooms. Pickerington and Violet elementaries have no more room for portable units.
Teri Allen, a sixth-grade teacher at Harmon, asked the board to consider working with the district?’s fifth- and sixthgrade staff members on how the plan might affect teachers and students.
''We realize it is our turn to step up to the plate and do our part,?’?’ Allen said. ''We know that we are not immune from the financial and overcrowding dilemmas facing this district. . . . We are not saying no to any decision. We just want the board to know the true limitations and drawbacks so that educationally sound solutions can be crafted.?’?’
Pickerington plans to vote on the short-term plan in February.
***

croduta@dispatch.com
mbridgman@dispatch.com

Why vote yes?

Why should I vote yes for an issue to add two schools when all I've read in the paper that we have enough kids to fill one new school. Don't understand... can't we get by with one new school and the portables we already have?

Yes, why?

The question I am asking myself is why should I vote now for the exact same thing I have voted against 3 times before? Something has to change or is the board just too stubborn to realize that? If I keep voting no on something you have to give me a reason to vote yes by changing what you are asking for. I mean I am reaching the point of changing my reason for voting no from the fact that I don?’t trust this board and administration to spend my money wisely to I JUST DON?”T CARE! My kids aren?’t in elementary school any more. I just don?’t care if they?’re overcrowded. My kid?’s school isn?’t. There, is that what you want to hear Mr. and Mrs. School Board???

Am I just too dumb to understand what the board is doing here? Is this a typical action for a board of education to keep coming back time and time and time and time again with the same ballot issue that keeps getting rejected over and over?

I DON?’T GET IT!! PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND!!!