CANFIELD — The Canfield Board of Education has discussed facilities and bond fees, noting that they are back on track after May’s bond failure.
A $6.9 million bond levy has raised $107.8 million for the district to build a new 100-acre Red Gate farm at the intersection of South Palmyra Road and Leffingwell Road in city-owned Canfield Township. We could have built a school campus. The school district also planned to allocate $20 million for the renovation of an existing high school.
The district executed a land exchange with the city in which the city gave the Red Gate property to the district in exchange for the Canfield Village Middle School building, all of the Wadsworth Street parking lot, and the Canfield Board of Education buses. It was. garage. The Canfield Village Middle School building sits on 9.1 acres. In a land exchange, the city would have decided what to do with these assets.
“We all know that facilities need to be evaluated,” Board Chair Nader Atway said at Thursday’s meeting. “The biggest message we got was not to do nothing. Feedback also said Red Gate (property) was not an option.”
Mr Atway said the November ballot will definitely not impose a bond tax.
Superintendent Joe Knoll laid out some strengths from a survey the government conducted earlier this year. Knoll said 1,271 people responded to the survey.
“I’ve never done so much research,” Knoll says.
Survey results
Some of the survey’s highlights showed that 58% of people got their bond tax information from Facebook. Knoll said districts need to reach out to as many people as possible if bond costs are put back on the ballot.
“Seventy-nine percent said it was too much,” Knoll said of the levy. “Sixty-six percent said they didn’t want it at Redgate. The more the price goes up.”
“We need to start a public dialogue,” Atway said.
Board member and former president Dave Wilkeson said he has been working on the issue for the past seven years. He said the bottom line is middle school and CH Campbell Elementary can’t be fixed.
All agreed that now was the time to start creating a new plan. Atway set up the first public meeting on September 28 at 6:00 pm in the high school auditorium solely on school facilities issues.
In the meantime, Knoll said the November ballot would result in $5.9 million in taxes on routine operations over five years. He said the levy was a renewal he passed in 2013 and renewed in 2017.
High school assistant wrestling coach Randy Langham presented the situation he was concerned about.
According to Langham, some girls go through wrestling/football locker rooms to avoid being kept waiting at locked doors. This is necessary to avoid skin problems in sports. .
Resident Alan Miller spoke about the need for a better handicap entrance to the home side of the soccer field. He asked for proper wheelchair access for anyone who wanted to support the team during the game.
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