Presentation to the BOE

Summary of Findings

Dear Community Members:

At the September 22nd board meeting the Board of Education voted to move forward with the Ohio School Facilities Project by supporting the idea of two 6th, 7th & 8th grade buildings and a Career Tech Center.  At the same meeting, the board heard a report on the summary of findings on the Trinity/Difco property south of Glenwood.  Early in 2007, the Board of Education made an offer to purchase this property.  The board would only purchase the property if it was environmentally clean and safe for students.  A Phase I and Phase II Study was performed by the seller.  But for the protection of the district, the Board of Education supported the need for an independent Phase I and Phase II study.  Lydia Mahalik, the Hancock County Regional Planning Grants Coordinator, was able to secure a grant to pay for an intensive study by Malcolm/Pernnie, independent environmental engineers, scientists and consultants.  Throughout the process there were numerous delays with the seller granting access for soil borings, legal issues and communications, and then the flood last year.  The seller's contention was that the property was clean enough for commercial and industrial use.  However, to eventually have students on the property, it needed to be clean to residential standards.  It was extremely important for the Board of Education to know what was on their property, as well as, what may be existing on the Glenwood site.  At last night's meeting the study was reported to the board (now as public record) and we were very encouraged that our property is clean and the adjacent property can be remediated (there are grants available for the cleanup).  The Board of Education does not want to purchase this or any other property unless it is clean!

As we move forward with discussions on two middle schools and a Career Tech Building and potential sites, it is extremely important that we know which properties are available, locations and histories of those properties, and are those the properties that will benefit the school district and community for a long period of time.  Our design team will have all this information as they study the Glenwood and Donnell sites.  The summary of the findings in a power point presented to the board as they made their decision and the report from Malcolm/Pernnie are also available for you to view. 

Dr. Dean Wittwer, Superintendent of Schools

These numbers are approximate numbers as of October 10, 2008...subject to change.