Troy BOE discusses building plans, district survey

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By Matt Clevenger

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TROY — Members of the Troy City Schools Board of Education held a special meeting on Monday, June 5, discussing plans for an upcoming potential bond issue and the results of the district’s recent survey of parents, staff and students.

“We are leaning towards putting the fifth and sixth-grade building on the Swailes property, and making the Hook property a pre-K through fourth-grade building,” Board President Sue Borchers said.

“The fifth and sixth-grade building is the largest building,” Board member Doug Trostle said. “The Swailes site is the largest building site.”

Under the current plan, new buildings could also be constructed at a site on state Route 718, and Cookson.

“Maintaining buildings at Hook and Cookson, you’re doing the best to try to continue walking availability for students in those neighborhoods,” Trostle said.

“This is the best thing to do for our students,” Board member Theresa Packard said. “Renovating the schools is not financially feasible or responsible.”

The district received notice a little over a month ago that the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) has approved state funding that would cover approximately 42% of the new buildings’ cost. The district must now come up with its share of the approximately $153.4 million project through passage of a bond issue or levy during the November election.

The building plan would require the passage of a 6.17-mill levy that could appear before voters on the ballot in November. The levy millage would equal approximately $18 monthly in additional costs per $100,000 of property valuation.

“Early voting is becoming far more popular, so we really need to gear our campaign to make sure that we have the majority of our communications going before Oct. 11 when early voting starts,” Borchers said.

“That time will be here before we know it,” she said.

In other business, board members also discussed the results of a recent survey conducted by the district. The survey results can be found online at www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-pDqeBtWfhA_2BgSbCJ1DE4hg_3D_3D/.

The district surveyed parents, staff members and students in grades six through 12.

“Overall, very encouraging results,” Superintendent Chris Piper said. “I think these are very positive.”

“Overall, we did really well,” Troy High School Principal Dave Dilbone said. “There’s certainly some areas for improvement; some of those areas are going to cause us some additional challenges.”

“It’s interesting to see the perceptions of parents, especially about things like student discipline and student behavior,” he said.

Board members will discuss the survey results with staff members from each building during an upcoming administrative retreat.

“We’re going to present these results to each building,” Piper said. “I’m interested to hear the conversations that our principals and staff members have at the end of the day.”

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