Groveport residents pursue plan for new school district
Group aims to have proposal ready for review by
2007
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Charlie Roduta
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Consider it their resignation letter.
A citizens?’ group from the village of Groveport hopes to start a new school district by separating from Groveport Madison schools.
The announcement comes three weeks after a national charter-school company said it plans to open a school in the district this fall.
Board members said rumors have circulated for years about plans for a separate district for the village, but the citizens?’ group wrote a formal letter to the superintendent last week.
''Eventually, everyone has a breaking point, and I think it?’s finally come to that,'' said Dan Knode, a representative of the group.
''Some of the other people in this committee feel the current leadership of the school district is not taking it in the right direction or does not seem to have an idea on how to change the course of the school district.''
Residents interested in the proposal can attend an informational meeting at 6 tonight at the Links of Groveport clubhouse, 1005 Richardson Rd.
Plans are in their infancy, Knode said, but the group would like to have a proposal ready for the state Board of Education by early 2007.
The group?’s members face a lengthy process.
Along with crafting a proposal, the group has to gather signatures from 75 percent of voters in the village supporting the plan.
After the group submits the proposal to the state board, there must be a hearing before the board.
The state board also could conduct a study on whether a new school district should be created. It also could consider joining the entire existing school district with another one.
If approved by the state board, the proposal for a new district would require a vote from the legislature. At least 17 members of the Senate and 50 members of the House would have to pass it.
A group in southern Ohio has spent four years trying to create Peebles Local School District from an area in the Adams County/Ohio Valley School District. Last year, an Ohio Court of Appeals ruled against creation of the district.
Organizers presented a revised plan for the district to the state board in October.
Groveport, in the school district?’s south side, makes up a quarter of Groveport Madison?’s student body, or about 1,500 students.
Knode, who was a village council member for about seven years, said 90 percent of the village?’s tax base comes from businesses. More than 5,000 people live in the village, according to recent figures from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
If the district loses that tax base, board President June Gibbs said, Groveport Madison could not support itself and might face annexation to another district.
''We?’ll just let it go its course and see what way it goes,'' she said. ''I don?’t agree with them. It will be up to the state Department of Education.''
The district has lost more than 10 percent of its students to charter schools and faces more losses with the new charter to be opened this fall.
croduta@dispatch.com
By Blue Printer
Group aims to have proposal ready for review by
2007
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Charlie Roduta
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Consider it their resignation letter.
A citizens?’ group from the village of Groveport hopes to start a new school district by separating from Groveport Madison schools.
The announcement comes three weeks after a national charter-school company said it plans to open a school in the district this fall.
Board members said rumors have circulated for years about plans for a separate district for the village, but the citizens?’ group wrote a formal letter to the superintendent last week.
''Eventually, everyone has a breaking point, and I think it?’s finally come to that,'' said Dan Knode, a representative of the group.
''Some of the other people in this committee feel the current leadership of the school district is not taking it in the right direction or does not seem to have an idea on how to change the course of the school district.''
Residents interested in the proposal can attend an informational meeting at 6 tonight at the Links of Groveport clubhouse, 1005 Richardson Rd.
Plans are in their infancy, Knode said, but the group would like to have a proposal ready for the state Board of Education by early 2007.
The group?’s members face a lengthy process.
Along with crafting a proposal, the group has to gather signatures from 75 percent of voters in the village supporting the plan.
After the group submits the proposal to the state board, there must be a hearing before the board.
The state board also could conduct a study on whether a new school district should be created. It also could consider joining the entire existing school district with another one.
If approved by the state board, the proposal for a new district would require a vote from the legislature. At least 17 members of the Senate and 50 members of the House would have to pass it.
A group in southern Ohio has spent four years trying to create Peebles Local School District from an area in the Adams County/Ohio Valley School District. Last year, an Ohio Court of Appeals ruled against creation of the district.
Organizers presented a revised plan for the district to the state board in October.
Groveport, in the school district?’s south side, makes up a quarter of Groveport Madison?’s student body, or about 1,500 students.
Knode, who was a village council member for about seven years, said 90 percent of the village?’s tax base comes from businesses. More than 5,000 people live in the village, according to recent figures from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
If the district loses that tax base, board President June Gibbs said, Groveport Madison could not support itself and might face annexation to another district.
''We?’ll just let it go its course and see what way it goes,'' she said. ''I don?’t agree with them. It will be up to the state Department of Education.''
The district has lost more than 10 percent of its students to charter schools and faces more losses with the new charter to be opened this fall.
croduta@dispatch.com
By Blue Printer
