PEMBERVILLE – Eastwood Schools administrators are getting a push-back from community members who want to
keep the district’s elementaries in the villages.
Earlier this year, the district had announced plans to go on the ballot in November to consolidate
elementary students in one building on the main campus on Sugar Ridge Road.
That decision was made after a survey of residents showed 51 percent favored the consolidation plan.
That would result in the closing of the Pemberville and Luckey elementaries.
But Jim Opelt, a Pemberville Village councilman, told the crowd of nearly 50 at Monday’s school board
meeting, that the survey was flawed.
He claimed that many district residents did not get the phone survey, some got called several times, and
even some homeowners outside the district were called.
"We’ve got evidence that a couple people outside the district were called," said Superintendent
Brent Welker this morning. "But the survey was better than any other efforts made to gauge how the
community stands."
Opelt and nearly 90 residents – business owners, clergy, former school board members – have formed the
Committee to Save Village Elementaries.
"A great cross section of the district," he said.
"We are proud members of the Eastwood School District. Our number one goal is to provide
state-of-the-art elementary buildings in both Luckey and Pemberville."
He argued Monday that restoring and reusing older school buildings was more financially feasibly than
building new, and asked that the board delay spending any of the Home Depot funds to build a new school.

A tax abatement agreement with the new Home Depot distribution center planned in Troy Township will give
Eastwood $675,000 per year beginning in 2015 and continuing through January 2029. The amount received
over that time will be $10,125,000.
The district had planned to apply that money for a consolidated elementary and voted in September to
apply for an active planning process with the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission for additional funding.

The district attempted an OSFC project before, to build a consolidated elementary school on the main
campus. But the bond issue was defeated in November 2008 and again in November 2009.
The Luckey school was built in 1926, while the Pemberville building dates back to 1936, and both have a
number of issues, including the need for new roofs, limited classroom and cafeteria space, and HVAC,
electrical, plumbing and handicap accessibility needs.
Opelt said he was "appalled" at the state of the elementaries.
"We want state-of-the-art elementaries for our students."
"People might say they don’t want their children to attend school in an old building because they
will not get a good education. If that is the case, then they should not send their children to Yale,
Purdue or Harvard," Opelt stated.
Leaving the elementaries in their home communities is safer, as fire, police and EMS are only blocks
away, he added.
It also will help the tax base increase, help property values increase, and help businesses stay and
grow.
He also cited a change in the OSFC rules that previously stated that it would not fund the renovation of
any building if the renovation cost was more than two-thirds the price of building new.
The OSFC has since changed the rule to more of a guideline, and now will co-fund the cost of renovations.
The district just needs to submit a waiver to the OSFC for approval.
"And you people know that," Opelt said, looking at the board.
Welker nodded in agreement.
"In many cases the best schools may be the ones we already have," Opelt said.
OSFC has not visited the district to conduct a feasibility study of the two elementaries but has updated
its results from a 2006 walk-through, said Welker
He said this morning that the ratio of renovating to building new at Pemberville was 73 percent, at an $8
million cost. The ratio at Luckey was 78 percent, at a $5.58 million cost.
But Welker also pointed out that in order for OSFC to pay for building renovations, the facility has to
service 350 students. There are currently 299 enrolled in Pemberville, and 246 in Luckey.
A centralized elementary is the only one which would qualify for OSFC funding, Welker said at a community
forum held in November.
"The two-thirds rule doesn’t matter because you’re not serving 350 students. Because of the 350
rule, there are no OSFC monies to renovate those schools. That is a hard and fast rule," he stated
this morning.
"We’re on the same team," said board President Denis Helm after Opelt’s 30-minute presentation.

Welker offered to meet with Opelt to continue discussions.
"We certainly understand that the villages are concerned with the elementary buildings," Welker
said.