TROY — The Troy City Schools held its first-ever State of the Schools Address on Tuesday, Nov. 8, offering presentations on topics ranging from academic performance to district finances and future building plans.

“The last couple years were pretty tough,” Troy City Schools Superintendent Chris Piper said. “This year is a different story.”

Piper discussed academic performance and the recent state report card, which compared over 600 districts and gave Troy City Schools high marks for student growth.

“Troy City Schools was No. 19th on that list, in terms of student growth,” Piper said. “That is a major accomplishment.”

Troy High School also did well in the report card’s comparison of growth ratings with over 3,000 other school buildings throughout the state. “Troy High School was third,” Piper said.

The State of the Schools Address was recorded, and video of the event is available on the Troy City Schools website at www.troy.k12.oh.us.

The event concluded with a town hall-style question-and-answer session, featuring questions that were submitted online. Speakers included Curriculum Director Danielle Romine, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Michael Moore, Director of Pupil Services Beth Marshal, and Business Manager Mark Barhorst.

“We’ve got a lot of really great people working in this district,” Barhorst said. “The real superstars are the 283 certified employees and 205 classified employees. Those are the people on the ground who are putting all of these things together.”

District Treasurer Jeff Price gave an overview of the district’s finances and discussed the recent re-structuring of Kyle and Forest elementary schools, which saved the district approximately $400,000.

“Prior to this school year, they were both K-5 buildings,” Price said. “For the first time this school year, Kyle restructured to become a kindergarten through second-grade building, and Forest became a third-grade through fifth-grade building.”

“We need to have our district become more efficient,” Price said. “The only way to do that is to reduce our building footprint.”

Troy City Schools Board of Education President Sue Borchers also discussed the topic of new school buildings.

“New buildings continue to be one of our greatest needs,” Borchers said. “We are working with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC); they are the individuals who determine whether you get funding, and if so how much you get.”

“We are hoping that they will respond to us in the next year or two,” she said. “We will know exactly how much money we will be getting from the state, so that when we put a bond on the ballot we are able to put in what the difference would be between the cost of the schools minus the state fund.”

“We are not eligible yet, but we’re hoping maybe as soon as next year,” Borchers said. “We’re launching an effort to engage the community on the plans. I think you will start seeing more communications after the first of the year.”