South Point Board of Education’s School Site Selection Committee will announce a possible location for the proposed new school buildings at a public meeting at 7 p.

Wednesday, January 26, 2000

South Point Board of Education’s School Site Selection Committee will announce a possible location for the proposed new school buildings at a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at South Point Middle School.

"The South Point Board of Education will be unveiling the selection committee’s recommendation for a site for the new high school," district superintendent Rick Waggoner said. "The public is welcome to attend and there will be a time during the meeting for any questions about the site to be asked and answered."

The new high school, as well as a new elementary school building that will consolidate the district’s two elementary schools, lost out at the voting booths in November. District voters decided against a 4.84-mill property tax levy that would have provided $7.1 million in local funds to match the $23.4 million in state building assistance funding.

In addition to building the new facilities, the funding would have been used to renovate the current high school and convert it into a middle school, district officials said.

That levy will go back on the ballot this spring. And, district officials said they hope the extra time will allow voters to gather more information. That, combined with the final site selection, should help push the levy over the top, Waggoner said.

"At the time of the first election, there was not a certain site pinned down, and I think it caused some confusion," he said. "The board of education wanted to make sure there was a physical site that the residents could see and base their decision on this time, and this is a step toward that end."

Once the site selection committee makes the recommendation, the site still is not official until the board approves it, Waggoner added.

"The board has the final say on our end," he said. "Of course, the Ohio School Facilities Commission will have to take some core samples and perform other tests, such as environmental studies, before they will release the funding."

None of that can happen, however, if the voters turn the levy down again. But, determining a viable site for the school is a step in the right direction, he added.

"I am very excited that we have a potential site selected," Waggoner said. "I know this will really help the voters in supporting this issue for our community and for our students of the future."

In 1980, district voters passed an 8-mill levy for $4 million, which constructed the current high school. Only 0.5-mills of that levy remain on the books. The former levy will be removed from the tax books before a new levy would go into effect, district officials said.