Amanda-Clearcreek School District seeks to establish new reputation after failed levies

AMANDA - After multiple levy failures and the replacement of a district leader, the Amanda-Clearcreek school district is struggling to renew its reputation in the community.

Following a negotiated settlement with the district board of education and former superintendent David Gaul, which ended his contract one year early in July 2016, the position was eventually replaced with J.B. Dick., who previously served as the district superintendent from 2001 to 2008.

Amidst the replacement of the district's leader, the school district placed a 1.5 percent earned income tax renewal levy on the ballot in November 2016. The levy failed by 663 votes and was placed on the ballot in May, and again in November 2017 as a five-year 1.25 percent income tax renewal levy. The November renewal levy failed with 1,001 votes for the levy and 1,390 votes against it.

Since the levy failures, the school district and its board of education have struggled to decide what's next for the district's future. Officials have said that decision is left to the new board, which will have an organizational meeting after the first of the year.

"I'll tell you (at) Grandparents' Day last Friday everybody said, What are we going to do? What are we going to do to get people to vote yes?' "  Dick said. "That's the million dollar question -- or in our case, the $2.5 million question."

Better rapport needed

A common theme among Amanda-Clearcreek voters was a desire for greater communication and transparency from the administration and Board of Education.

Scott Cox, 53, of Stoutsville, said he's voted for every Amanda-Clearcreek levy except for the last two years the district has put it on the ballot. He expressed a feeling the district had changed the direction it was headed and often felt the previous administration and board of education weren't telling the whole truth.

The change in direction is part of why the 17-year school volunteer stopped volunteering in the district. He added he loved every one of the kids and had no children of his own in the district.

"I think they made a big stride in putting the new superintendent back in. We need to get the education back to where it needs to be," Cox said. "I think Mr. Dick will do a good job and the school will be back (to where it was). If things change and I know they will, I'll vote yes."

Although he voted in favor of the district's levy, Ron Butterbaugh, 51, of Amanda, said he thought a way to convince no-voters was greater transparency, although he thought the board was on that path.

Mike and Sheila Cluse, of Amanda, also voted for the levy but suggested having a couple years of solid administration could help the district pass a levy.

In addition to expressing unhappiness with the district, Cox mentioned the district's annual state report card.

According to the Ohio Department of Education's website, in the 2016-2017 school year, the district received an A in progress and graduation rate. The website reported 98.4 percent of students graduated in five years, while 92.5 percent of students graduated in four years. The district also received a C in achievement, F in gap closing, D in preparedness for success, and a B in K-3 literacy.

Since the levy results rolled in, the district has had difficulty getting feedback from the community in regards to why more than 1,300 people voted against it.

"It would be so much easier if we had solid answers as to why people are voting against it," Dick said, adding that if they knew the reason they could try to fix it. "We can't undo what was done and (voting) is the only way a taxpayer gets to base their opinion on what has been done to this point."

Jill Bradford, the district's treasurer, emphasized the difference between a levy and board election.

"Decisions that were made by the Board of Education, if you're not happy with some of those decisions, then that rolls into, that's a board election," she said. "The income tax, the tax levy, that is a funding, that is a revenue stream for the education of our students, operations of this school district. I know there's that fine line there, but it is two distinct votes."

Board members-elect and current board members had varying opinions on why the levy may have failed.

Current board member Brandon Kern said it probably was the result of a lot of different factors. He questioned whether voters understood the need or if they felt like they had trust in the leadership.

Getting back to governance and leadership in the community was something board member-elect Jody Denner hoped to see once the new board of education convenes.

"I think a main reason why (voters) did not previously vote for and they voted no is because of the distrust and the animosity with the old board," Denner said. "They want new leadership and they want to see a positive change."

Like Denner, board member-elect Kyle Sharp said he's heard a lot of negative things that happened in the past from voters. He encouraged voters to do a little digging into rumors floating around to see they might not be fully accurate and pleaded with them to give the new board of education a chance.

"Look at what's been done recently and look at the plans moving forward and don't focus on the things that happened a long time ago because we can't change those," he said.

'It's a necessity.'

Thinking about what may happen to the district if the levy continues to fail, Bradford described it as fearful and daunting.

"This (levy) is a necessity," Dick said simply. "It's not so we can have this big carryover. It's the piece to continue to operate in a way that we need to make sure we're operating in and doing it as efficiently as we can."

The day after the election and most days since Dick said he and Bradford had discussed ways to continue their cost-savings measures. He emphasized it's not something the district does the month or even six months before a levy goes on the ballot, but rather, something that's done constantly.

"I have no problems saying I don't want to cut people, but if this thing continues over a period of time, years," Dick said. "Does one more election mean we're going to have to cut? We don't know that. Does three more years of not passing it? Good chance."

Bradford added the district looks at enrollment versus staffing annually to make sure its staff appropriately. The administrators couldn't say whether the district would face cuts following the most recent election, but they acknowledged if the levy continued to fail, over the course of time students' education would suffer.

"Just because we live here or we live in a rural area or we live in the way that school funding is formulated, our kids should get the same education as every other kid does," Dick said. "Eventually, not passing a levy will result in our kids not being afforded the same opportunities as the other kids are, even in this county. 'Cause my thing is I can be mad, I can be upset, sad, all those feelings and emotions, but ultimately, it's how it's going to affect our kids I'm more fearful of than anything else."

Over time, many school districts and local governments have begun facing funding issues as state and federal funding dwindles. Amanda-Clearcreek isn't exempt from that problem.

Dick described the levy as a necessity for the school district to operate the way it does, citing that everything the school does, even paving the parking lot, comes from a general fund, which is funded through income taxes and state funding.

Bradford acknowledged the district's state share has gone down over recent years. In an email to The Eagle-Gazette, she said the district's annual operating budget is about $16 million.

"The voter is being asked to take more responsibility for the education of their students and this district than they ever have before," Dick said.

The district also has facility maintenance and bond levies, both of which would expire in 2021, Bradford said in the email. The bond levy covers Amanda-Clearcreek's mortgage on the building constructed in 1999 and the facility maintenance levy covers maintenance on the mortgaged building until the mortgage is paid.

Mentioning she doesn't like to give up, Bradford said she manages her household income the same way she does the school's in the sense that if one of her children needs something, she looks at what she can give up to pay for what her child needs.

"I am one where, you know, I speak numbers and there are only so many creative ways that you can use your revenue streams to give the kids what they need," she said, going on to say eventually the district won't be able to find any more savings because it'll have out-saved itself. "And that's when it comes back to, it's the revenue stream. I can't make the state give me more."

Students wary

Sitting in a large school conference room, two high school students became somber as the conversation turned to their younger siblings.

Kiley Holbrook, a sophomore at Amanda-Clearcreek High School, has two younger siblings and another sibling on the way. Like her, Aaron Sharp, a sophomore, also has several younger siblings, including one in elementary school.

"If the levy continues to fail, he will not be going to high school in Amanda," Holbrook said of her brother, who's in elementary school. She said her mother went to Logan Elm and her father and grandparents went to school through Amanda, so her siblings leaving the district would break a tradition. "It's always been our home district, so it kind of — I don't want to say it breaks my family's heart, but it makes us very sad."

Sharp, whose father and uncles went to Stoutville, which merged into Amanda-Clearcreek in the mid-'60s, recalled many times his family would point out where the old school used to be.

The students, who are involved in six and seven extracurricular activities respectively, expressed a concern that academics, extracurriculars, and the community itself would suffer if the levy continued to fail.

"If you have a strong school, the people that come out of it want to come back to that community and they want to put their efforts into furthering its goals because there's a strong base there," Sharp said. "If that doesn't happen and your school goes into decline, then the people are going to start leaving to go find better, more safe area that actually can provide the education for them, which I'm not saying the school can't provide, but in the future, there's certainly a danger that could come to pass."

Holbrook expressed a fear if the levy continued to fail, the district would have to cut things like student council and other extracurricular activities that keep kids busy and out of trouble.

"If they don't have those extracurriculars or those courses that they can engage themselves in within the community, it's more likely that they will take a step down the wrong path," she said simply.

The students pleaded with the community to take the time to ask a student how they feel about the failed levies or what the district does for their education.

"Hopefully some people who haven't voted for it in the past will take some time to listen to the students because a lot of us talk about it every day and for the most part, we're all in agreement that it has to pass," Sharp said. "We can't vote. We don't have a say. We have an opportunity to get an education and we're not taking it if we don't pass a levy."

Moving forward

A levy passing in the future and what it would take to make that happen were some things the board of education members and members-elect agreed on.

"It's gonna need to happen eventually," Sharp said, adding that the school isn't in "dire straits" yet because of the carryover from last year's budget. But the annual carryover amount from the previous year, he said, would only go so far to fill the gaps in funding.

Denner suggested the new board table the levy for a year and return to the issue until the board could investigate all levy options and gain community buy-in before putting it back on the ballot.

"I think there's a need (for a levy) in the long-term for sure, but the more immediate need for the district is we need to have a collaborative process that involves the community, school leadership, board, and faculty members at school and that process needs to evaluate what the needs truly are and the resources that we have to meet those needs," Kern said, emphasizing it was a critical first step regardless of whether the levy goes back on the ballot or not.

In the meantime, a priority for the new school board will be to re-establish trust with the community. Sharp and Kern emphasized communicating the decisions that are made and being transparent.

"I think a lot of voters want to put the kids first, but they also want to believe there's transparency and there's trust between how the school is operating and how taxes are being used. We've got to bridge that gap, I think," Kern said.

Amidst the tension between residents and the district leaders, Dick emphasized that his priorities remained on the kids.

"We will never be able to be everything for everybody, no matter what we do, how many levies are passed, for how much, but I think there's a lot of good things happening in these hallways and to me, that's where our focus has got to be," Dick said. "Even though our focus is getting the levy passed, our focus is still what we're doing for (the kids) because they deserve it."