Board talks aging school facilities, equipment

CELINA - Aging buildings and equipment are causing problems for Celina City Schools.

The school board Tuesday night discussed a variety of pressing issues, including the state of the district's bus fleet, dilapidated stadium bleachers and a blown boiler at Celina Elementary School.

"We have a major need for new buses," superintendent Jesse Steiner said after the meeting.

The district has fallen behind schedule to replace buses due to a lack of funds, he said. The district should buy two buses per year instead of the one it has been doing, he said.

"We looked around at different resources trying to see how long you should keep a bus. From what our mechanics are saying and from what OSBA (Ohio School Board Association) officials are saying, any time you get a bus over 10 years old, over 225,000 miles or over 10,000 engine hours, it's time to look at replacing the bus. We've got a large number of our buses that meet all three of those criteria," he said.

The district uses 25 buses and has five more used by the Head Start Program, assistant superintendent Dean Giesige said. Of the 30, at least 18 needed to be repaired or replaced.

Steiner brought up the possibility of buying five buses to get back on schedule. However, board vice president Amy Hoyng wondered if having five buses reach critical milestones at the same time would cause future problems. Board members debated the pros and cons of buying one, two or more buses per year but reached no decision. Giesige said a new bus costs about $84,000.

"It's an aging fleet. We have very good mechanics that work on the buses but we need new buses," he said.

The board also discussed the state of the visitors-section bleachers at Celina Stadium. Steiner said that the board had received a complaint after an unnamed person was injured.

"There was a situation where someone got a sizable splinter that had to be medically removed. That brought the state of our bleachers to our attention," he said.

Treasurer Mick Davis said repairing the bleachers had been given low priority but a recent opportunity to purchase cheap, high-quality bleachers brought the matter to the forefront. The Clyde-Green Spring school district is selling aluminum bleachers later this week, Davis said.

Giesige recommended board members approve bidding up to $38,500 for the bleachers. He said the sale included enough bleachers to fill the stadium's needs and still have some left for other sites.

District officials had seen the bleachers and they were in "excellent shape," Steiner said.

Board member Matt Gilmore recommended raising the approved maximum bid to $45,000. Gilmore's resolution stated that the money would come from the district's general fund.

Board member Cindy Piper objected to using general fund money, since the recent softball field project relied on donated money and she does not want to favor the football team over the softball team.

Gilmore said the two situations are not comparable.

"That was a new project. This is repairing an existing building," he said.

Other teams would also benefit from the purchase, Gilmore said.

The resolution passed 4-1, with Piper opposed.

Steiner also reported one of the two boilers at West Elementary had failed in January. The district is seeking bids for a new boiler, which should cost about $60,000, Giesige said. The money would come from the capital improvements fund.

"The public needs to be aware that these are just issues that will keep coming up over and over again with the buildings getting older," Piper said.

Gilmore questioned whether the district should search for a used boiler rather than buying a new one.

"I just don't want us to buy a brand new boiler if we are going to be building new buildings," Gilmore said, referring to the potential school building projects.

Board members passed a resolution Tuesday to enter into contract with Garmann Miller and Associates to assess the district's building needs and do pre-bond work. Garmann Miller representatives said the firm will perform a walk-through of the buildings before coming up with options. They said it could take up to six months to create a complete list of options.

Board members also passed a resolution officially approving the return to a semester schedule at the high school beginning with the 2015-16 school year.

New state-mandated testing schedules conflict significantly with the current trimester schedule, principal Phil Metz had told the board. The new semester schedule would increase instructional minutes and allow students to cover more end-of-course test material before exams, he said.

In other business, board members,

• approved the retirement of Lynne Carmean, high school guidance counselor. Carmean has been with the district for 30 years.

• approved the retirement of Judy Braden, sixth-grade teacher, after 30 years of service.

• were read stories five second-graders from Celina Primary School had written and illustrated on their iPads earlier in the week.

• approved a resolution to advertise for bids for building insurance, earthquake insurance, fleet insurance, and liability insurance for the 2015-16 school year.

• had an executive session concerning employment and employee compensation but took no action.