By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Board of Education took the next steps Tuesday evening toward building a new high school.
The board voted to declare the necessity for a $72.8 million bond issue to go before the district’s voters in November. That request will go to the Wood County Auditor’s Office, which will certify the ballot language and determine the exact amount of millage needed.
District Treasurer Cathy Schuller said the estimated millage for the bond issue is 5.53 mills, which would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $16.14 a month, or $193.69 a year. (The auditor’s office bases the estimates on the $100,000 home figure because it’s easier for people to calculate their own costs from that round number.)
The board also voted to contract with DLR Group Inc. to create a facilities master plan for a new high school. That cost is $123,110, Schuller said.
Board President Ryan Myers reported that a group of district staff and board members had been meeting with DLR about the high school plan.
“There’s a lot of excitement being displayed,” Myers said. He assured that the public will have access to all drawings and financial figures involving the project.
“Our goal is to allow voters to see the what, where, and why this will benefit students,” he said.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Joe DeMare, the head of the local Green Party, told the board the new high school is needed.
“Our party supports this bond issue,” he said.
But DeMare said the building project could win more support if it were a carbon negative school – making use of solar and geothermal power, and more insulation. Energy bills would be lower, he said, and the district could sell its unused solar power in the summer.
And building a carbon negative school would be a positive direction for students.
“It would give students at Bowling Green hope,” DeMare said.
Also at the meeting, teacher Jeff Nichols, who is president of the Bowling Green Educators Association, said he has worked with six superintendents during his 32 years at the high school. Never before has the district faced some of the difficulties it has in recent years. Nichols said during all his meetings with Superintendent Francis Scruci, they may have disagreed, but Scruci always listened to Nichols.
“He listened and he had one thing in mind – the protection, the safety and the care of our students and our teachers,” Nichols said. “I will always cherish the time I worked with Mr. Scruci.”
Nichols asked as the district moves into the new era of Dr. Ted Haselman taking over as superintendent on Aug. 1, that board members continue to support but not micromanage the position.
“I would implore the Board of Education to continue the support you give our superintendent,” Nichols said, adding that he believed Haselman was a wise choice for the job.
In other business, the district was presented with an award from the Ohio State Auditor’s Office. Lori Brodie, the northwest regional liaison with the auditor’s office, said the award puts Bowling Green City Schools in a “select group.”
The state office audits approximately 6,000 public entities a year, with only about 8% getting a clean audit, Brodie said.
“This represents the hard work of all the employees,” Brodie said, thanking the school board and Schuller for their efforts.
In accepting the award, Schuller agreed that it represents “a lot of hard work by a lot of people.”
