By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The new petition to secede from Bowling Green City School District met the signature and map qualifications – but failed to make the deadline to appear on the August ballot.
The new petition covers acreage in Milton Township, much of which had been part of a previously submitted petition. The first petition had been rejected because it created an island of acreage in the Bowling Green district.
The petition was resubmitted, this time without cutting out an island while asking that acreage be transferred to the Patrick Henry School District.
The new petition qualifies to be on the ballot – but not until November.
Seven other petitions from rural areas of the school district were approved earlier and will appear on the Aug. 5 special election ballot.
During a special Bowling Green Board of Education meeting Friday afternoon, the board voted unanimously to send the latest petition on to the Wood County Board of Elections and the Ohio Department of Education so it can appear on the ballot at some point.
Attorney Quintin Lindsmith said the school board acted promptly on the new petition. A special meeting was held last Friday, during which the board voted to send the petition to the Wood County Board of Elections, which is charged with making sure petitions have adequate signatures.
According to Lindsmith, the school district learned on Tuesday that the petition was approved by the board of elections. So Superintendent Francis Scruci picked it up from the elections office the same day and delivered it to title agent Diane Huffman, who reviewed the map of the property proposed to withdraw from BG school district.
On Wednesday, Huffman reported to school officials that the map did comply with requirements.
The school board then sent out public notice, as required by law, for the special meeting held this afternoon. That meant the action taken today missed the deadline.
“The deadline for that special election was yesterday,” Lindsmith told the board.
Attorney Becky Princehorn explained to the board that the filing date with the board of elections is a “hard deadline.”
“The board has no authority to alter that,” she said of the school board.
The school board acted promptly on the new petition, Princehorn said. “There was not time to get the required notice.”
A total of 13 petitions have now been submitted by residents in the rural areas of the school district, asking to change to other districts including Patrick Henry, McComb, Elmwood, Eastwood and Otsego.
Five of the petitions were disqualified either for not having adequate signatures or by not being adjacent to the school district they were requesting to move to.
Some of those circulating the petitions have been outspoken about what they see as an over-reliance on property taxes for the school district.
The same petitioners were also strong opponents to Bowling Green City School District’s plan to build one elementary school, stating that smaller neighborhood schools were preferable. However, three of the districts they are petitioning to enter – Eastwood, Elmwood and Otsego – all have consolidated school buildings.
Prior to the August special election and the November general election, the exact voters allowed to cast ballots on the petitions will have to be determined.
