Saturday, February 26, 2000
Delay may vex school district
State: No Monroe board until April
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
MONROE — The Ohio Board of Education will not appoint a school board for the Monroe Local Schools for at least a month if the district is created.
And that decision worries some who say it would make it more difficult to plan for the new district, which is to begin operations July 1 if Monroe voters approve splitting from the Middletown/Monroe Schools on March 7.
“We can't officially do anything from a practical standpoint until there is a board,” said Dan Hare, superintendent of the Butler County Educational Services Center, which is assisting the Monroe group. “Who do I go to, to get direction? The executive committee I'm working with now might not be the board appointed.”
The state board announced this week it would accept applications until March 27 from residents who are interested in serving on a Monroe Board of Education. Under Ohio law, the state board is required to appoint five people to the first Monroe board. The appointed members would serve until a board could be elected in November 2001.
The center's governing board has forwarded a list of seven candidates to the state board. The list included all five
members of Monroe's executive committee, plus two others who have been working with the committee. No one else applied, Mr. Hare said.
“I don't know what the point is,” said Suzi Rubin, a member of the executive committee. “Right now we're in a critical time. ... It was a challenge to begin with. I guess we'll just work a little harder. It is going to make things very difficult for us.”
Holly Miller, legal counsel for the state board, said it is scheduled to appoint a Monroe board at its April 11 meeting.
“They wanted to have more applicants,” Ms. Miller said. “The state board has a policy of considering at least three candidates for each open position. We wanted to give the residents of Monroe another opportunity to apply.”
Edmund Pokora, treasurer for the Middletown/Monroe Schools, said the group is “concerned about the delay because it pushes back the open enrollment period for Monroe. That pushes back when we'll know how many students we'll have. “I understand the state's rationale, but it is a hardship.”
“We had 107 days to put everything in place by the July 1 opening,” Mr. Hare said. “Now we'll have 84 days.”
A delay in appointing a board would delay critical matters such as the hiring of a superintendent and treasurer, settling staffing issues, and making arrangements to rent and set up the portable classrooms that will be needed to house Monroe's students, Mr. Hare said. Officials are expecting 1,572 students to attend Monroe schools.
“Who would apply to be superintendent if we're not sure of who our board members were?” Mr. Hare asked. “We need the authority of a board to move forward.”
Zoo chief stepping down after 38 years
Here's what we love/hate about teachers
McCain caravan coming down I-71
FWW builders planned better for surprises
Stadium manager: Deadline can be met
Folks bask in record warmth
Prosecutor looks into agency purchases
11 child sex cases dismissed
Aquarium: No penguin progeny yet
Boone may block hotel tax
Mardi Gras in Covington next weekend
Bedinghaus leads in cash
Bunning endorses Bush
GOP official: Ky. to vote Republican
Librarian sues for Sundays off
Man dies in wrong-way crash on I-75
Mom sentenced for allowing sex
Oak Ridge Boys play at Princeton High
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
GET TO IT
Orchestra blooms under Carlos Kalmar's baton
Bowman to head parks
Boy, 2, drowns in pool
City golf courses find competition tough
County courses ready to tee off
Delay may vex school district
Eye tests ensure pupils master A-B-SEEs
Fire levy would allow new hiring
Meeting broke sunshine law
Taft OKs flood help for Adams County
TRISTATE DIGEST
