Going to voters: New Philadelphia Schools to put bond issue on ballot for new buildings

NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ In September, Jeremy Connor, custodian at Central Elementary in New Philadelphia, had to come into work on a Saturday when a leaky roof allowed water to flood the school's kitchen and gymnasium.

It took between six and seven people six hours to get several inches of the water off the floor.

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Plans call for construction of a $72 million, two-story elementary school at the current site of South Elementary. The district owns 14 acres there, enough to build a new school while keeping South Elementary open until the new facility is completed. No site has been chosen yet for the middle/high school.

Then in January, another leak caused the ceiling to come down in the main office. There was water everywhere.

Maintenance has become an ongoing issue in the aging buildings of the New Philadelphia City School District. "It is to the point now where the infrastructure is crumbling," said Superintendent Amy Wentworth. "The pipes under the buildings are caving in, especially at the high school and the middle school."

At the high school, built in 1913, the district had raw sewage back up into the kitchen and into a hallway this school year. Maintenance workers had to cut a hole in the cement floor to fix the pipes, she said.

"It's always a new adventure every day," Connor said.

Building project

So the school district is moving forward with a plan to build two new buildings ‒ a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade building and a new seventh through 12th grade building. New Philadelphia voters will see a 5.9-mill bond issue on the November general election ballot to help pay for the project.

The bond issue will raise $72 million. It would cost property owners $17.25 per month per $100,000 of home valuation.

"We decided the elementary was a bigger priority because, right now, we're in five different buildings, plus the preschool is in a sixth location," Wentworth said. "Transportation between the buildings is challenging, especially for families who have children in multiple buildings. The transfer busing situation is challenging. So, if we're all in one place, that's going to alleviate a lot of those concerns."

The project includes money to make traffic improvements at South Elementary in an effort to get some traffic off of South Broadway, she said. Residents who attended district forums on the future of the schools had expressed concerns about traffic.

State funding

The entire building project is slated to receive state financial assistance.

"They have told us that we are in the top batch of schools to receive that funding, but they're not ready to make that offer yet," the superintendent said. "They anticipate that offer will be five years give or take, but that doesn't mean that we have to wait five years to get started."

When the state makes its offer, the state will reimburse New Philadelphia City Schools for 56% of everything that was co-funded on the elementary building. The state will also provide 56% of the cost for the new middle/high school.

Once the new elementary building opens, the district's five elementary schools ‒ South, Central, East, West and York ‒ will be demolished and the property will be sold. District offices, currently located in the Front Administration building, will be moved to the Quaker Dome. The Front building will also be torn down.

The high school and Welty Middle School will also be demolished, but the district will keep the gymnasium, Wentworth said.

Overcrowding at York Elementary

While crumbling infrastructure is a problem at Central Elementary, overcrowding is the main issue at York Elementary. The building serves 235 kindergarteners and first graders.

The school makes use of a modular classroom for additional space. One half is used as a library, as well as space for the speech therapist, Beth Mechling. She works with about 30 students, often at the same time as the library is in use, according to Principal Matt Maurer. The other half of the modular is used by four educators, including three title reading teachers. They can be working with 12 to 13 students at a time, with the 30 x 15-foot space sectioned off with dividers.

"In my mind, four educators out here in a room this size is not ideal," Maurer said.

A closet is being used for the school psychologist to meet with students, and the old building entryway has been converted into classroom for use by an intervention specialist, he said. Tables have also been set up in the hallway for instruction.

'The repairs just continue to come'

New Philadelphia has used ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds to make some needed repairs, Wentworth said. These funds have paid for new boilers in the buildings.

"If it wasn't for that ESSER money, I don't know how we'd be heating this place, because our boilers were rapidly failing too," she said. "ESSER is kind of allowing us to limp along, but we are about at the point when the money is just gone, and the repairs just continue to come and come and come."

Wentworth believes now is the best time for New Philadelphia City Schools to embark on a construction project.

"We feel like right now is the right time, because costs just continue to increase exponentially, so the longer we wait, the more expensive this is going to be," she said.

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: New Philadelphia seeks bond issue passage for new schools