Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Poland Local Schools Superintendent Craig Hockenberry is keeping a chalkboard tally of the small group meetings that have been happening as the district gets ready to put together a master plan.

POLAND — The future of the Poland school district is the talk of the town.

Small-group meetings all over Poland village and township have taken place and will continue to take place.

Poland Superintendent Craig Hockenberry said talks seemed to center on facilities, including a projection that Poland enrollment will surge.

“The discussion was held by board of education members, administrators, members of the teachers’ union, and community members, who met at Dobbins,” the former elementary school now serving as board office and preschool, Hockenberry said.

“We talked about what our options were and at one time we had 57 of them. Obviously we couldn’t take 57 plans to the community, so we looked at what we could eliminate and what seemed realistic.”

The group narrowed the plans down to 10 earlier this year.

At that point, the district hired GPD Architects to fold the ideas into fewer plans. GPD condensed them into four plans, and after further work with the board, the final plans were rolled into three choices:

* Option one, or the “Option Blue,” is full of new. It would call for a new K-5 building at the Poland North Elementary site, a new grades 6-8 building at the existing middle school site, a new grades 9-12 school to replace the high school, and abatement and demolition of McKinley Elementary. The pre-K and board offices would remain at Dobbins, and the plan wouldbring new schools on three sites.

Hockenberry said the Blue Option would require a $100 million bond levy that would be collected over 36 years.

* The next option, or “Option White,” calls for a new K-12 school at the existing high school site. The new school building would function as separate PK-5, 6-8, and a 9-12 under one roof. Unlike Option Blue, this plan would be a one-building, one campus plan.

The White Option would cost approximately $95 million for the same time period, the superintendent said.

* The final plan is “Option Red.” In this plan, the district would keep McKinley, the middle school and Seminary High School, which would see an addition of four new classrooms. The plan would reopen Poland North Elementary while keeping the board office and pre-K classrooms at Dobbins. This plan would require a lot of repairs and improvements to the existing buildings.

The Red Option would not require a bond levy, but the cost would be almost the same over the 36-year span. At the start, it would simply continue the district as it is going now.

“Last year we spent $2.3 million to renovate old buildings,” Hockenberry said. “While there would be no bond levy with the Red Option, it would likely require a new operating levy to continue the renovations and repairs.”

SMALL SESSIONS

With the three plans laid down, the next step was initiated in June, involving the small-group meetings.

“We have talked with 495 people in 57 sessions”prior to Oct. 28, Hockenberry said. “We still have 190 more to go.”

He said the goal is to hold the small-group sessions and listen to what people have to say about the options and what they want to see for Poland schools. Hockenberry keeps a list of all the places and groups he has met with so far and he hopes to be able to fill the chalkboard on one wall by the end of December. He also is keeping track of where the meetings take place so that all sections of Poland village and township are covered.

“Small groups have much better feedback,” he said. “In a large group, good ideas can be muffled. Thus far with roughly 500 people visited, there is no real opposition to the process.”

Poland school board President Troy Polis said he attended a couple of the meetings and was impressed by how the smaller groups allowed for more input.

“Every person can be in the loop on this,” Polis said. “Craig is very motivated, and my man is everywhere on this.”

He said the small groups will continue and by early February, the board will review the input from those meetings. At that time a decision can be made on the direction the district will take. Should that direction include a bond levy, the earliest it could be put on the ballot would be November 2023.

“At the end of the day, it will be the citizens who decide whether we do this or not do this,” Polis said.

Hockenberry said so far, the Option Blue plan seems to be the most favored.

STATE MONEY

Waiting until 2023 would also see Poland getting more funds.

At the Oct. 24 board of education meeting, the board unanimously approved rescinding a request to establish a cost for new schools through the Ohio School Facilities Construction Commission. The board then turned around and submitted a new request. Hockenberry said if residents want to go with one or more new schools, the district would be under the present program, which would see the state give 17 percent of the cost. If the district waits till next year, it will get a greater amount, he said.

Those state funds would be available for Option Blue and Option White, and that is up to the residents of Poland. Hockenberry said he will continue to meet with small groups and listen to what the residents say.

“I have been very impressed at the meetings we have had so far,” he said. “The people of Poland are very well informed.”

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com