Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Facilities Review Committee report
Growth will remain an issue

About $180 million for new construction and upgrades may be needed over next 15 years, report says.

By KATHLEEN L. RADCLIFF

Unchecked growth will continue to place a burden on school resources and the overall educational experience of Pickerington students, a review committee told Pickerington school board members Monday.

Members of the Pickerington Schools Facilities Review Committee didn't have a crystal ball, but they did take a scientific look into the district's future and presented their findings to the Pickerington Board of Education.

The FRC's report reflects six months of effort and deliberations by a dedicated and diverse group of concerned citizens, teachers and building administrators, said Jay Meglich, committee co-chairman.

''I've worked with a lot of citizen committees, but this one has been very dedicated in working week in and week out,'' Superintendent Robert Thiede said.

''District residents need to be educated, informed and aware of the problems facing the district,'' Meglich said.

The committee's findings closely resemble that of an FRC formed in 1997.
''We currently face significant overcrowding at the kindergarten through fourth-grade level,'' Meglich said.

''This is soon to be the case at all other levels within our district as well,'' he said. ''The district needs to be proactive in planning, implementation and management as opposed to continually trying to catch up to growing enrollment demands.''

To help accomplish this objective, the committee has offered its vision in a three-phase timeline over the next 14 years:

*Phase 1 (2005-2009)

Build one elementary school with pre-school facilities.

Build a second elementary school.

Renovate Fairfield, Pickerington and Violet Elementaries, and add gymnasiums.

*Phase 2 (2010-2014)

Build new middle school.

Build new junior high school.

Phase out Heritage as a middle school.
Build new senior high.

*Phase 3 (2015-2019)

Build third elementary school.

Renovate Heritage Elementary or plan for a fourth elementary school.

Renovate Diley and Harmon Middle Schools as may be required.

Based upon current (construction and design) standards and using 2004 dollars, improvements and upgrades coupled with new construction may total an investment of $180 million over the next 15 years, according to the report.

''To put this amount in perspective, this committee notes the district has invested about $150 million in necessary new building construction over the last 15 years,'' Meglich said.

In addition to the findings of the report, ''We recommend that a standing body be approved by the Board to continue analysis of the district's needs, review updated enrollment projections, monitor the evolving requirements of the Ohio School Facility Commission and revise short and long term plans as necessary,'' Meglich said.


Published in the Pickerington Times-Sun June 15, 2005


By Still Voting NO!!

Need v. Want

First I guess we are still playing the same games here in the Pickerington Local School District as we have always played and many of us are getting tired of the same old rhetoric.

Just last week we heard that the board voted 3 to 2 to not fund expansion of the Central stadium to an eight lane track because they said the visitor's bleachers would need replaced in 10 years. Yet we have this facilities committee say that we will need a new High School in NINE years.

So the obvious question is will this new high school include TWO regulation tracks? Will it be snuggly fit onto a 152 acre site? Will it have miles of unused asphalt in the parking lots just to create an ''atmosphere'' of affluence? Will it be beautifully lighted to serve all that see the halo of this new over the horizon?

Clearly this 2005 facilities committee has been led and controlled by the movers and shakers of the district once more to condition our taxpayers to hold on to your hats because if you thought your taxes were high now just wait 14 years.

By Still voting NO!!

Renovate 12 yr old schools?

I see also planned renovations of the brand new middle schools in 2015 as well as renovations now on Fairfield, Violet and Pickerington Elementaries.

What possibly needs renovated after 12 years for Harmon and Diley Middle Schools? My home is 20 years old. It's been maintained as needed but is far from needing renovated. The three elementaries are clean, well maintained, and meet the needs of the kids.

These folks have no clue --- spend spend spend.

Who they trying to fool?

I know that these local papers are limited in their print space and they try to be responsibility to convey what these reports say. However if this is a take it or leave report then I am going to LEAVE IT. I also know some of the people that have been working on this report. And I believe they are responsible and worked very hard on their findings. If this report is flawed like I think it is then the district will follow it just like they did the 1997 report which was they ignored it.

However despite the hard work and the intent I see a number of holes and non options available to the public. Apparently they hired an outside firm and this firm ?“PROJECTED?” future growth rates. I am very close to two Pickerington City Council members and neither has heard of the schools coming to them to ask for projected growth rates. Since much of what is being done at council is still in the planning stage wouldn?’t it be advisable to have consulted with the city and the township BEFORE collecting the data to feed to this facilities committee? Wouldn?’t it have been advisable to have given the taxpayers more than one option? In fact the schools have sat on this information and they have very little PUBLIC statistical information available to support their growth rates. It is time they come clean and make that information PUBLIC like the law requires.

I would also like to see their projected growth rates in the Township and the City of Pickerington. Why in the hell did the voters clean house at city hall last election and our schools are still doing their projections based on HISTORICAL DATA. Maybe if they helped with this growth issue they could play a major role in controlling that growth.

If they are actually using the historical growth rate of around 4.5% then maybe they should have considered other rates of growth. Did anyone on this committee or in the current school administration know how private businesses use spread sheets to predict different rates of growth? Clearly we could have typed in say a 1% rate of growth and then predicted future school capital needs versus say 6% rates of growth.


This will surely cause me to continue to vote NO!!