Residents of Bethel-Tate Local School District are encouraged to attend an open forum meeting to be held at the Bethel Middle School in the cafeteria at 7 o’clock on Oct. 26th. This meeting is to inform voters about the upcoming 6.6 mills emergency operating levy to fund facility and maintenance repairs. Let us answer your questions before you go to the polls on Nov. 8th.

The Ebon C. Hill Intermediate School was built in 1952. Wm. Bick Primary and the Bethel Middle School were both built in 1966. It is hard to believe but our “new” high school was built in 2002. Sometimes voters ask, “Why did we even need to build another building?” Prior to the construction of this high school, we had students walking out of their assigned buildings to modular classrooms. We didn’t even have enough classrooms for each teacher. Several teachers had to teach from a cart. In addition, the renovations to the existing buildings and the construction of the new high school was financed by only 18% of local tax payer dollars with state building funds paying 82% of the costs.

According to the state report, even though enrollment has declined it has not declined enough to close any of our existing buildings. We must preserve and protect what we have. Repairs and maintenance are needed with regard to aging HVAC systems, roofs, parking lots, electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems as well as aging technology. Another common question is why did the district purchase the administrative and transportation building on St. Rt. 125. When there was no room within the schools for administrative offices, the administration rented offices which was a cost to the district. In 2001, the school district purchased a building to eliminate rental costs. After several years, handicap accessibility and additional repairs needed for the building that we owned weighed in the decision, by previous administration and school board members, to sell that building and purchase the current administrative building located on St. Rt. 125. Recently the state, commended the district on having the foresight to have their own mechanic and a building of this size so that bus repairs can be made in house on our aging bus fleet plus the added security of being able to store 15 buses within the building.

We will have a power point presentation available, so that you can actually see the needs and our concerns. We want to answer your questions. This levy is about meeting the needs of the buildings in which today’s students study and learn. We want to be good stewards of your tax dollars that are working in your community.