BG school board holds special meeting on petitions to secede

Two petitions to secede from Bowling Green City School District may get a second chance to appear on the August ballot. 

Of the 12 petitions seeking secession from Bowling Green City School District, six had been rejected due to failing to meet legal requirements to appear on the ballot in August.

One had already been tossed by the Wood County Board of Elections because it didn’t have a single valid signature. Another five petitions were rejected because they were either not adjacent to the districts they wanted to transfer to, or they created islands of properties in the Bowling Green district. 

But on Friday, during a special meeting, the Board of Education voted to allow one of the previously rejected petitions to be submitted to the Wood County Board of Elections once discrepancies on the plat map were resolved. That petition involves acreage in Center Township seeking to be moved to Eastwood school district.

The school board also voted to acknowledge receipt of a new petition involving acreage in Milton Township seeking to be moved to Patrick Henry school district. The petition for this property was revised after the previous petition was rejected by the school board.

It is unknown if the new petition meets the requirements, and if it was submitted in time to appear on the August ballot with the other petitions, according to Bowling Green School Treasurer Cathy Schuller.