Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

It's very easy to jump to conclusions when reading newspaper articles, editorials, and even these discussion pages. However, I urge you to get the facts in order to come to informed conclusions. For example, the state mandates that the PLSD provide a preschool program for special needs (physically or mentally challenged in some respect) 3 & 4 year olds. This program is being moved out of Heritage to make room for elementary grade kids because other elementaries are over capacity. A temporary fix is to put these kids at Ridgeview, but they would be much better served at an elementary, in facilities built to handle their special needs. The PLSD is not competing with Little Tigers, Epiphany or any of the other local preschools.

Regarding building schools to handle our future growth, the OSFC (Ohio Schools Facilities Commission), from my perspective, acts as a overseer for the district. The OSFC will reimburse 49% of the cost to build new schools, built under OSFC guidelines. One qualification for reimbursement is that the 10 year enrollment projections must support the building of a school, of a particular type and capacity. Personally, I wouldn't support building any new schools that don't meet this OSFC requirement, as local funding would be required and we'd build and operate schools that would be undercapacity for 10 years (based on projections).

Regarding the next levy, the school board needs to look at what is required, using the best 10 year enrollment projections it has, and find a housing solution for the current and future students of this district, that is academically and financially acceptable to the voters in the district (i.e., earns their yes votes on buiding levies). This is an ambitious task, given the diversity of our community and the various philosophies of each of us.

I don't have all the answers or facts, but certainly there are resourses that do. Get in touch with school board members (email addresses available on the PLSD website) if you have questions. All I ask is that you get informed before making crucial decisions regarding future school levies.

Thanks for Clarifying

Thanks for clarifying on the preschool that was reported in the paper. I emailed some BOE members and a Facilities Committee member after I read The Dispatch, and got basically the same answer.

One wrote back and said the special-needs kids were primarily autistic, and a poster on a different thread wanted to know if the special-needs kids truly were special-needs or if it was a result of relaxing the standards. Since I don't have the answers I got on the internet last night to do some research on autism. What I found is that the rate of autism has exploded in the United States, it appears to be both a function of having more truly autistic kids in our country as well as the standards for diagnosic autism have become more lenient.

Your point about getting informed is a good one. I frequently call or email BOE members with questions, and I always get responses from them. They are readily available to the public, as are the administrators. Going to school board meetings is also a way to get informed, if you have the time to do it.