Hope for up-to-date schools hangs on bond issue
The Quaker Spirit Facilities Improvement Committee brought together parents, teachers, school board members and community leaders to develop a Facility Master Plan that will carry the city’s schools through the next 75 years.
The New Philadelphia City School District will try again in May to get voters to pass a bond issue and levy so new schools can be built. The measure was defeated by a sizable margin in November.
According to the school district website, which contains a trove of documents under the Facility Master Plan tab, the question voters will be asked is whether they want to move education into the future or remain mired in the past.
On the ballot for the second time will be a $72 million bond for construction and a 1-mill levy for maintenance, a requirement by the State of Ohio tied to capital funding. The need to pass the measure this time is critical, according to Jennifer Schrock, who co-chairs the bond committee with Todd MacMath.
“We’ve outgrown the buildings we have,” Schrock said. “They’re falling apart. At the same time, it is never going to be any more affordable for our community than it is right now.”
As of now the state has committed to picking up 56% of the cost to build both a new pre-K through sixth grade school and a new middle/high school building. If the bond issue fails, that locked-in percentage will decrease the next time it’s placed in front of the voters.
Amy Wentworth, superintendent, said the age of the buildings is a huge issue, both in terms of their condition and in the sense they simply cannot be fixed in any way to meet current building codes.
“Our newest building, South Elementary, is 50 years old,” she said. “Our high school/middle school was built in 1913.”
No matter how dire the situation is, school levies and bond issues face tough opposition these days. Wentworth shared insight into why the measure failed in November based on feedback from voters.
“The reasons fell into three main categories,” she said. “The first reason people gave is that it’s going to raise taxes, and some people feel they can’t afford it. The second is we haven’t identified a location for the new middle/high school.”
Others expressed concern that putting a larger building on the South Elementary site could exacerbate an already tricky traffic situation.
According to Wentworth, the school board has considered those factors, and they believe the need and availability of state funding trump all objections.
The Quaker Spirit Facilities Improvement Committee
From the very beginning, the school board and administration have sought input from the community at-large.
“In September 2023 we established and started meeting with the Quaker Spirit Facilities Improvement Committee,” Wentworth said. “It was open to absolutely anybody who wanted to be a part of it. It had parents, community leaders, city residents. Even the mayor attended a meeting. In fact, the city has pledged to work with us through this process. They really want to be a part of it.”
New Philadelphia Mayor Joel Day said the city planning commission is working with the school administration. “The PC members and I feel construction of new schools needs to be a joint city-school board and administration project.”
The committee met at least once a month from September through May, brainstorming, looking at dozens of plan ideas and eventually culling a list of about a dozen options to create a Facility Master Plan.
“In the end it was not something I dreamed up or the administration came up with, but what our community desires,” Wentworth said. “It’s a long-term plan that will accommodate the district for the next 75 years.”
A matter of time
The school district has been footing some huge bills over the years repairing and replacing aging infrastructure in buildings that can never be brought up to code.
“I wish people in the community would understand that this isn’t an exaggeration,” Schrock said. “We had two calamity days earlier this year because we had to spend $115,000 to replace the old boiler at York Elementary. That’s a stress and a disruption on everyone.”
If the bond issue doesn’t pass, Wentworth and Schrock believe the cost to the city will not be just financial.
“If you don’t have an attractive school district, people are going to choose to live in communities that do have those schools,” Schrock said. “You’ll also start to lose good teachers and other employees. It’s just a matter of time.”
Also at risk is the size of the student body, of which state funding is tied.
“Tuscarawas County schools that have new facilities have three times as many students wanting to open enroll as students who want to enroll into New Philadelphia schools,” Wentworth said.
“Our home values are all going to take a hit if we can’t build new schools,” Schrock said. “We won’t have young families taking up residence here, and eventually, we just won’t have growth.”
Information on the new schools plan can be found on the school district’s website at www.npschools.org. There also will be another meeting on Jan. 16 at the administrative office building at 248 Front St.
“The meeting is open to anyone who is interested in the school plan,” Wentworth said. “We’re going to talk about things like possible locations for the middle/high school, transportation and traffic around the pre-K through six school. We want people to come and share feedback now, on the front end, because we want this to be a plan you want to support.”