File. Eastwood High School.
J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune
PEMBERVILLE – Eastwood Local Schools is positioning itself to get state funding for new facilities.
At the March board meeting, members voted unanimously to apply to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission in order to get on the list for future funding.
“This just puts us in line without committing anything,” said Superintendent Brent Welker at the meeting.
Any state funding received by the district will be at the same ratio as when Eastwood used OFCC to construct its elementary.
At that time, the ratio was 64% local share, 36% state share, Welker said.
The local cost of that school, which opened in 2017, was $14 million.
The district used general fund money to pay for its share of the new building, which will be paid off in 2025, thus allowing the district to move ahead on the next phase of its master plan, Welker said.
The earliest the district will be evaluated by OFCC is in 2023, he said.
“We just need to get in line,” he added.
The district needs to study what the next project will be, whether the middle school, the high school, or both, Welker said.
The high school was built around 1960 and the middle school was built in 1970.
“Our biggest thing is, we want to know our options for a project,” including potential costs and how much square footage would be allowed, he said about applying for state funds.
“We’re just in the very initial stages of this,” Welker said.
OFCC’s Classroom Facilities Assistance Program-Additional Segment application will be considered based on the availability of funding and the district’s priority position on the commission’s active planning list, according to the OSCC guidebook.
Lower-wealth districts get priority, according to the OFCC.
Welker said he had no idea what Eastwood’s current ranking was.
Also at the meeting, the board:
•Accepted the resignation of Jo Lynn Gerwin as a middle school library paraprofessional.
• Approved administrative contracts extensions for Jodi Zunk, assistant principal at the middle school and high school, to July 31, 2024; Matthew Bostdorff, technology director, to June 30, 2025; Sue Volschow, transportation director, to July 31, 2025; Melissa Wagoner, director of student services and curriculum, to July 31, 2025; Joe Wank, elementary principal, to July 31, 2025; and Betsy Hood, director of eLearning, to July 31, 2025.
• Approved a memo of understanding with the Wood County Sheriff’s Office for DARE and school resource officer services. The district will pay $15,000 for the 2022-23 school year.
• Accepted $100 for the softball program and $1,725 for after prom.
