PERRYSBURG – School officials will organize focus groups to get community feedback on why its recent levy failed.

Meanwhile, enrollment continues to grow.

“Certainly, we were disappointed in the outcome of the election, but we respect those results,” said Superintendent Tom Hosler at the school board’s Nov. 20 meeting.

The $140 million bond issue for new and renovated facilities failed 7,471 (55.87%) to 5,901 (44.13%) on Nov. 7, according to the official results from the Wood County Board of Elections.

Hosler said in an effort to understand why the issue failed, the district will reconvene its facilities committee to ask for feedback, seek ideas from area leaders and organize listening tours to allow community members to express their opinions and concerns and what they agreed with and disagreed with.

We want to understand why the levy failed, he said.

“We want to frame the discussion with what is in the best interest of the students that we serve and what do our students need,” he said.

Meetings will also be held with employees, school district operations and building leaders to discuss responses to growth needs.

“We know that the needs that brought us to that point have remained unchanged,” Hosler said. “Those needs are something the district will have to deal with, and we want to embark on a process that really gets to why.”

Hosler share school capacities and current enrollment. He said 105 classrooms are needed before 2040.

Since 2012, the district has grown by 19%, or 919 students.

Frank Elementary has a capacity of 400 with current enrollment at 481.

Woodland Elementary has a capacity of 350 with current enrollment of 595.

Fort Meigs Elementary has a capacity of 475 with current enrollment of 569.

Perrysburg High School has a capacity of 1,600 with a current enrollment of 1,731.

All of the above schools use portable classrooms, and more may be added as part of the solution, Hosler said.

Toth Elementary and Hull Prairie Intermediate schools are not at capacity and do not have modular classrooms. Perrysburg Junior High also is not at capacity but does use modular classrooms.

Approximately 15 of the 100 teachers at the high school use carts to travel from room to room. The expansion of early dismissal and late arrival has been implemented to alleviate growth challenges at the school.

At the elementaries, Woodland’s bathroom has nine female stalls, 10 urinals and three stalls for boys for 595 students.

The district may need to redistrict neighborhoods for new kindergarten registrants, Hosler said.

Plans for the $140 million included a new 800-student elementary school in the southwest quadrant of the district; high school classrooms, cafeteria additions and site work; deferred maintenance at Fort Meigs, Toth and Woodland elementaries, and additions at those schools; deferred maintenance at the junior high; new restrooms and entrance at Steinecker Stadium; an addition to the transportation garage; and boilers and chillers at the high school.

If the levy had passed, the new elementary could have been ready to open at the end of 2026.

Discussions will be held to address what can be done in the near future to alleviate overcrowding in the schools, including food service and transportation.

There will be an education and awareness campaign to inform the community about facility needs and our plan to address the impact on classrooms, Hosler said.

The district will also be transparent on the financial aspects of facility needs.

Hosler said district leaders were open to adapting the bond issue. The plan developed by the facilities committee was a good one in that it dealt with the pressure points Perrysburg Schools is experiencing.

He said the hope is to learn from conversations if there are any aspects of the plan that take priority over others.

“We want to make sure if we do this, we’re very thoughtful and respectful in reflecting what the community wants,” Hosler said.

The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission agreement, which will provide a 30% reimbursement for a facility project, is good through Dec. 31, 2024.

“It’s always good to talk to residents and get their feedback. We’re anxious to do that. …” Hosler said.

Board President Bennington said it was important to hear the feedback.

“I’m listening for patterns and reasons,” he said.

It was a big package, and everything was important and necessary, “but the results were clear,” he said.

The election results don’t justify putting the exact issue on the March ballot, Bennington said.

He said doing nothing is not an option.

“The growth in our district hasn’t changed,” said board member Ray Pohlman.

The justification for why we did what we did was there, he said.