By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Rockdale Academy students must walk outside to go from classrooms to the cafeteria. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

Cincinnati teachers and parents peered at drafty windows, patched ceilings and 30-year-old carpeting with a new sense of alarm the day after voters defeated a $480 million bond issue for school construction.

Some school officials are already talking about returning to voters for the money next year - possibly May - to finance Cincinnati school district's $1 billion construction plan. Meanwhile, the fate and timeline of school construction projects are uncertain - even for schools where planning is under way.

"Nothing is solid," said Rick Williams, school board president. "We have to look at what this means."

The district has enough money to finance the first phase of its four-segment project, which includes 15 new schools and two renovated ones. But that, too, must be re-evaluated following the bond issue defeat, Mr. Williams said.

If the district doesn't pass a bond issue by August 2003, it is in danger of losing $210 million in state funding toward the project, said district Treasurer Michael Geoghegan. The district would have to reapply for the money.

Without that money, the district cannot complete its plan to build 35 schools and renovate 31 others.

To teachers and students at the 72-year-old Oyler Elementary in Price Hill, the bond issue defeat means ceilings will continue to crack, windows will continue to leak and the school gym won't have spectator stands for basketball or volleyball games.

The decadelong construction plan called for a $13.6 million renovation of the historic school, which is trimmed with colorful terra cotta accents. Oyler was in phase two of the project.

Oyler Elementary Principal Craig Hockenberry faces another winter with a deteriorating building (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

"This school is worn out," said Denise Montgomery, an in-school suspension and behavior specialist who has worked at Oyler for 15 years. "We make the best of it, but we need some help."

Oyler's plant manager said the first-floor rooms reach 93 degrees by 6 a.m. at the beginning of the school year in August. Third-floor rooms reach 102 degrees.

"I was very excited that we were going to get the basic things other schools have," said Principal Craig Hockenberry. "This was sad. It was a blow to teachers."

Mr. Hockenberry said he postponed a parents' open house this year because one ceiling had a large hole from a leaky roof.

Just a few miles away at Rockdale Academy in Avondale, parents eagerly reviewed drawings for the new school there, budgeted at $14 million. Construction is scheduled for winter 2003, but school officials said the time line now is unsure.

Rockdale, built in 1955, sits amid a blighted neighborhood; and parents said they desperately wanted a new school for the area children.

"With the neighborhood being so negative, at least the children will have a more positive setting at school," said Jackie Humphries, an Avondale resident with two children at Rockdale.

The next step will be to re-evaluate why voters defeated the bond issue and develop a solid plan to secure its passage next time, school officials said.

"We're going to have to talk further about what we want to create for our school system," said new schools Superintendent Alton Frailey.

"I don't think anyone can really stand and say to a child that `these facilities are good enough for you.' Obviously, they're not," he said. "My hope is that, whatever issues were out there, that the adults will get beyond those, do this for the kids and then deal with the other issues."

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com