Better Coverage
For once the Eagle Gazette did a better job than the Dispatch or Channel 4.....
Voters: Yes in Pickerington; No in Canal Winchester
By TAMARIA L. KULEMEKA
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
tkulemeka@nncogannett.com
FAIRFIELD COUNTY - Two new elementary schools and a middle school will house Pickerington students in 2009.
But Canal Winchester school officials must go back to the drawing board and decide whether to try again following the failure of the school district's operating levy in Tuesday's election.
Pickerington voters passed a bond issue in the school district's fifth attempt. The Fairfield County Board of Elections' final unofficial results showed the bond issue passing with 9,761 votes or 55 percent for the bond issue; and 7,917 votes or nearly 45 percent against the bond issue.
The Board of Elections still must count provisional ballots, which number 1,559 countywide.
''We're very excited,'' said Lisa Reade, president of the Pickerington Local Schools Board of Education. ''You have a group of the hardest working people I have seen. It was a true grassroots effort by the community, our parents and staff.''
Dovie Banks hoped the Pickerington bond issue would pass when she went to the polls early Tuesday. Banks lives in Sycamore Creek, a subdivision slated to become home to one of the two elementary schools.
''We moved in thinking there would be a school in 2004,'' said Banks, 39.
Banks' two children attend private school, but she supported the issue because of the school district's crowding woes.
About 1,000 students in the school district attend classes in trailers. That's the equivalent of one school, Reade said.
The district got the word out about the issue through more than 600 volunteers, mass mailings and doing whatever they could to get people to the polls. Efforts included babysitting for voters' children while parents went to vote or making sure voters got absentee ballots.
''People adopted friends, neighbors, and reminded them to vote,'' Reade said. ''We're very fortunate. We're very blessed. ... Now we'll only have to worry about short-term housing options.''
Canal Winchester school board member Stan Smith said his board will address the district's next step at its next board meeting.
''Obviously, the need we identified won't go away,'' Smith said.
Canal Winchester lies in both Fairfield and Franklin counties.
The levy failed in Fairfield County with 950 votes or nearly 64 percent against the levy and 524 votes or nearly 36 percent for the levy, according to unofficial final results from the Fairfield County Board of Elections.
The levy failed in Franklin County with 2,147 votes or 55 percent against the levy and 1,754 votes or nearly 45 percent for the levy, according to unofficial final results on the Franklin County Board of Elections Web site.
The operating levy would've been used for costs such as salaries and utilities.
Canal Winchester resident Tom McDonald was surprised by the school levy results.
''That's too bad,'' said McDonald, 56. ''We've been more than pleased with the schools, and that's part of the reason we live in Canal Winchester. I know the economy has some bearing on the peoples' opinions, but to me, it just seems like a school district that offers so much.''
For once the Eagle Gazette did a better job than the Dispatch or Channel 4.....
By TAMARIA L. KULEMEKA
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
tkulemeka@nncogannett.com
FAIRFIELD COUNTY - Two new elementary schools and a middle school will house Pickerington students in 2009.
But Canal Winchester school officials must go back to the drawing board and decide whether to try again following the failure of the school district's operating levy in Tuesday's election.
Pickerington voters passed a bond issue in the school district's fifth attempt. The Fairfield County Board of Elections' final unofficial results showed the bond issue passing with 9,761 votes or 55 percent for the bond issue; and 7,917 votes or nearly 45 percent against the bond issue.
The Board of Elections still must count provisional ballots, which number 1,559 countywide.
''We're very excited,'' said Lisa Reade, president of the Pickerington Local Schools Board of Education. ''You have a group of the hardest working people I have seen. It was a true grassroots effort by the community, our parents and staff.''
Dovie Banks hoped the Pickerington bond issue would pass when she went to the polls early Tuesday. Banks lives in Sycamore Creek, a subdivision slated to become home to one of the two elementary schools.
''We moved in thinking there would be a school in 2004,'' said Banks, 39.
Banks' two children attend private school, but she supported the issue because of the school district's crowding woes.
About 1,000 students in the school district attend classes in trailers. That's the equivalent of one school, Reade said.
The district got the word out about the issue through more than 600 volunteers, mass mailings and doing whatever they could to get people to the polls. Efforts included babysitting for voters' children while parents went to vote or making sure voters got absentee ballots.
''People adopted friends, neighbors, and reminded them to vote,'' Reade said. ''We're very fortunate. We're very blessed. ... Now we'll only have to worry about short-term housing options.''
Canal Winchester school board member Stan Smith said his board will address the district's next step at its next board meeting.
''Obviously, the need we identified won't go away,'' Smith said.
Canal Winchester lies in both Fairfield and Franklin counties.
The levy failed in Fairfield County with 950 votes or nearly 64 percent against the levy and 524 votes or nearly 36 percent for the levy, according to unofficial final results from the Fairfield County Board of Elections.
The levy failed in Franklin County with 2,147 votes or 55 percent against the levy and 1,754 votes or nearly 45 percent for the levy, according to unofficial final results on the Franklin County Board of Elections Web site.
The operating levy would've been used for costs such as salaries and utilities.
Canal Winchester resident Tom McDonald was surprised by the school levy results.
''That's too bad,'' said McDonald, 56. ''We've been more than pleased with the schools, and that's part of the reason we live in Canal Winchester. I know the economy has some bearing on the peoples' opinions, but to me, it just seems like a school district that offers so much.''
