New River View Elementary School plan discussed
SUMMERS
COSHOCTON – Dalton Summers, superintendent of River View Schools, met with the Coshocton County Commissioners on Wednesday, April 20 to discuss building plans for the proposed new River View Elementary. Voting on the proposed 5.2 millage levy will be held during a special election Aug. 2.
The River View School District has been discussing a building plan for a new elementary school for the past three years. The current four elementary school buildings in the district, Union, Warsaw, Keene, and Conesville, are at least 100 years old or older.
“We definitely have a problem at River View,” said Summers. “There’s no doubt. The buildings are not serving their purpose anymore and haven’t been for some time.”
The schools are spread over more than 300 miles apart and do not house as many students as in previous years. Summers estimates a total of 1,000 less students attending the four schools than when the buildings were originally constructed.
Summers presented a wide variety of issues with the four buildings, the most pressing being safety. When the schools were built, they met the then current safety regulations, but have not been updated to meet growing safety needs. The schools also are not handicapped accessible and those who enter each of the four buildings must climb a set of stairs as soon as they enter. It is also not financially efficient to operate the elementary schools, especially when they are not housing that many students. Summers estimates there are approximately 150 students at Union, 350 at Conesville, 350 at Warsaw, and 270 at Keene.
The plan Summers presented to the commissioners is to build a new elementary school on the main River View campus. They also plan to renovate the junior high and high school at the same time due to stipulations from the state. The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission is contributing $9,020,226 and stipulates that the money must be used for kindergarten through 12th grade. The renovations at the junior high and high school will be updates to meet the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and the ADA safety standards.
“I can’t say enough about the community for keeping these buildings open and functioning at the level they do,” said Summers. “We’ve done the best we can, but we’re at a point now where instead of spending money on 21st Century education, we’re putting that money into 100 year old buildings.”
If the levy passes, the local share will be $43,456,780 and will cost a homeowner of a $102,500 house, which is the average home value in the county, $186.57 annually. Voters will have a chance to vote on this issue during a special election on Aug. 2 and if it fails, it will be placed on the November ballot. If it fails twice, the state will reconsider their funding and will fund much lower than their current $9,020,226 contribution.
The commissioners also opened bids for the MVG reconstruction project. The Motor Vehicle and Gas project will repave and reconstruct portions of CR 3, CR 4, CR 27, and CR 106. It will be funded with money from the engineer’s MVG fund.
Three bids were presented. Melway Paving Company had a bid of $544,071.70. The Shelley Company had a bid of $529,618.82. Smalls Asphalt Paving had a bid of $475,987.90. The commissioners turned over all bids to Fred Wachtel, county engineer, for his review and recommendation.
beth@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Government
