The Athens City School District Board of Education has approved the facilities master plan, but the process had negotiations and changes to come to the final decision.
Here's what has changed and what's next:
Renovation versus rebuild
Over the past few months, the board debated where to build new buildings and where to renovate existing buildings.
Board member Roger Brown said the board had been trying to communicate some of the buildings are beyond repair, according to a previous Post report. Over the past month, though, the board decided whether to complete those repairs through renovations or repairs at select locations.
The final decision included building two new pre-K to third-grade buildings at the sites of East and Morrison-Gordon elementary schools, renovating The Plains Elementary for the fourth- to sixth-grade location, renovating Athens Middle School and building a new Athens High School.
Sixth grade location
The renovation versus rebuild discussions faced a road block while the board discussed whether to renovate The Plains Elementary or Athens Middle School to accommodate the sixth grade.
When the board held a special meeting March 8, board member Rusty Rittenhouse said it was a safety decision.
“One of these proposals is safe,” Rittenhouse said in a previous Post report. “The other is dangerous.”
During its special meeting, the board had compromised on the location of the sixth grade after not making a decision during its February regular board meeting.
The cost
The total co-funded costs was around $90 million when the board received its possible price tag for “option four” from Schorr Architects on Jan. 31. The total co-funded cost was reduced to about $77 million, though, after the board made its decision on the placement of the sixth grade March 8.
The co-funded cost is calculated by adding up the costs of construction and the mandatory, locally funded initiatives. Those initiatives are required projects within the schools that the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission will not provide funding for.
The district is considering additional locally funded initiatives that will be specified at future meetings. Superintendent Thomas Gibbs estimated the total costs, including both mandatory and optional locally funded initiatives, would be between $80 million and $90 million, with the district providing $60 million.
The board discussed segmenting the projects but then voted against it, so it will work on the plan all at once.
Gibbs said in an email to parents Friday that board members wanted the tax millage of the bond to be around 6 miles and the cost per $100,000 in valuation to be around $200.
The board will discuss over the next few months the details of the bond issue that will be possibly placed on the November ballot.
What’s next
Gibbs sent this timeline to parents Friday:
April: The board will discuss locally funded initiatives to include in the project.
May: The board will make final decisions about locally funded initiatives.
*June: The board will discuss and, if necessary, approve a resolution of necessity to place a a bond issue on the November ballot.
*July: The board will have final discussions and would need to approve a resolution to proceed with placing a bond issue on the ballot.
*Early August: The administration would file all documents with the Board of Elections to place a bond issue on the ballot.
November 6: Election Day, during which voters would vote on the bond issue.
*Note: The noted time periods are final deadlines. The board could proceed with the steps prior to those points.
