ARCHBOLD WEATHER

New Pettisville School Could Be Finished In May 2011





The new school building for the Pettisville Local School District should be finished by May 2011, and ready for students in August.

A tentative timeline for the project was presented to the Pettisville School Board at the Monday night, Dec. 8, meeting.

Plans call for site work to begin in the fall of 2009, with building construction to start in March 2010.

The timeline calls for the building to be finished in May 2011.

The current high school and portions of the elementary would be demolished in June of that year.

School will begin in the new building in August 2011.

Finance

Board members took the next step in the process to build the new school, passing resolutions to sell notes and bonds to raise more than $4.8 million for the local share of the project.

The bulk of the money to build the new $20-plus million school is coming from the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

Board members approved a finance plan for the project that was recommended by Patrick King of Wachovia Securities.

The plan calls for the sale of short-term ‘bond anticipation notes’ that will raise the needed funds immediately. Long-term bonds will be sold to replace the notes early next year.

Pettisville school district voters approved a bond issue in November. The issue passed by a 56.3% margin after all votes were counted.

Ag Area Bigger

The board learned that the agricultural education portion of the project will be larger than at anticipated. The ag area will be allocated 5,900 square feet, with a 1,000 square-foot greenhouse in addition to the indoor educational space.

In order to accommodate the larger-than-usual funds that the district will handle during the course of the building project, the board authorized changes in the district depository agreements.

The treasurer was authorized to establish a depository agreement with State Bank and Trust, and to increase the depository agreement with Farmers & Merchants State Bank as well.

Supplemental

The board approved a shared supplemental contract for seventh grade boys basketball. The position and stipend will be shared between A.J. Genter and Bryan Rufenacht.

Both the elementary and high school principals reported to the board concerning recent parent-teacher conferences.

Jason Waldvogel, elementary principal, reported that between 95% and 100% of students had at least one parent attend conferences.

In the high school, Michael Lane, principal, said fewer parents attended than in previous years, and he believed that was due to increased use of Web- Grader.

WebGrader allows parents to track their children’s grades over the Internet.

Waldvogel also told the board that the results from the third grade reading achievement tests showed positive results for Pettisville students.

Over half, or 54%, of Pettisville third graders scored as “advanced,” and another 20% were rated as “accelerated.”

The test showed all but 2% had at least basic reading skills.

Students will retake the test in the spring, regardless of their scores on the fall test.

All board members were present. All votes were unanimous.

The next board meeting was moved to Monday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. in the school library. – D. J. Neuenschwander


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