POLAND — Several residents from Kerrybrook Trail attended Wednesday’s Poland Board of Education meeting to urge support against placing a cell tower on township property.

Jennifer Nigh told school board members the proposal the township is considering would be for a 150-foot tower with a 60′ by 60′ base.

“We have health concerns regarding the radio transmitter,” she said. “Also, the construction would be devastating to students. I would urge this board to oppose the tower at the Oct. 8 township meeting.”

The tower Nigh spoke of is a cell tower Poland Township trustees are considering. According to school board President Gregg Riddle, the tower is proposed to be constructed behind the Poland Township Administration Building, between Kerrybrook Trail and Poland Seminary High School.

Nigh said the tower is expected to bring in $9,000 per year for the township. That was something Kerrybrook resident Lori Castro was upset about.

“We need to put our children and community before a $9,000 profit,” Castro said.

Of major concern to Nigh and Castro are the effects of the cell tower radio waves and the loss of home values with a nearby tower.

In other business, the board heard a report from Maria Hoffmaster regarding the recently released state report card. While Poland Local School District has some work to do on the math front, there was concern over the new category of “Readiness” on the report card.

Hoffmaster showed a chart that included the criteria for the category. It included receiving ACT or SAT remediation free score, receiving an honors diploma, advanced placement, earning at least 12 college credits, enlistment in the military, earning at least 12 industry-recognized credential points in a single career field, apprenticeship acceptance and completion, advanced proficiency on three or more technical assessments in a single career pathway, and obtaining an Ohio Means Jobs Readiness Seal and have 250 hours of internship or work-based learning.

“It looks at how our (students) are prepared for life after graduation,” she said. “In Poland, we had 101 graduates out of 150 hit a component.”

The puzzling part for all the board members is how Poland and several other high-performing school districts received a low score in readiness, which affected the districts’ overall report card numbers.

“Schools with high numbers of kids in the military and work careers scored high,” Poland Superintendent Craig Hockenberry said.

He explained the new category on the state report card is supposed to show how prepared students are for post-graduation life. The problem seems to be the way the state is adding up that score. Hoffmaster told the board Poland has a listed average of 83 percent in post-graduate education.

“You mean 80 percent of our kids go on to college, but that doesn’t count?” asked board member Michelle Elia.

All agreed the formula needs to be looked at and changed. Hockenberry said Valley superintendents are looking into it.

Also Wednesday, Poland Director of Operations Matt McKenzie said he was looking into a different pay scale for substitutes in the district. He said subs in all fields are becoming hard to get, so a different pay scale may need to be considered.