KCS gets voter support to build new elementary

Celebrating the passage of the Kenton City Schools’ bond issue to help construct a new elementary building are committee members (from left, front) Elizabeth Horner, Ryan Malany, co-chairs Linda Hensel and Matt Jennings, Superintendent Jennifer Penczarski; (back) board members Russ Blue and Dave Haushalter.

The Kenton City Schools community will be “Building Our Future Together.”
Following the theme of the district’s levy committee, voters agreed  Tuesday to help finance construction of a new PreK-6 elementary building for the Kenton district.
By an unofficial vote of 1,887 to 1665, voters approved a 28-year bond issue of 4.35 mills for construction of the school, with an additional .50 mills for maintenance for a continuing period.
It will generate the local share of $13,605,000 toward the $30 million project. The state, through the Ohio School Facilities Commission, will contribute $17,169,509.
The issue passed in six of the 11 Hardin County precincts, as well as in Wyandot County. Kenton 2 (431-324) and Pleasant Township (367-243) each passed the issue by more than 100 votes.
Superintendent Jennifer Penczarski, who was upbeat about the issue from the outset on election night, said, “This building is for our community and for our future. We worked hard to bridge gaps together.”
She credits passage of the issue to “… the relationships we’ve been able to create. People who have been skeptical of Kenton City Schools in the past had a change of heart once they saw what we were about and what we wanted to accomplish.”
The building of relationships “is what makes a great school,” Penczarski said.
“I’m excited for the school district and I’m excited for the Kenton community,” said school board President Dave Haushalter. “It’s another step for us to move forward.
“I can’t thank enough the committee and the community as a whole who came out to support us.”
Thanking the committee was a common theme from the superintendent and board members who gathered at the Hardin County Courthouse.
Its leaders, Matt Jennings and Linda Hensel, shared in the excitement of passage of the issue.
“I’m thrilled with the support of the community for the school system,” Jennings said.
“The community was willing to have a good conversation about the needs of the school district. The community was willing to listen and support us. I’m very grateful to the community.”
“I’m so happy for the community, so happy for the town of Kenton,” Hensel said.
She worked on previous building campaigns and said this one was different. “We just heard a lot more positives this time. We didn’t hear the negatives.”
Hensel added, “It’s a big day for Kenton City Schools.”
Board member Russ Blue said, “We’re ecstatic. I want to thank the people who supported it for the betterment of our kids. It will be a major improvement.”
Board member Tom Brim credited the levy committee for “working hard to get our message out there.”
Like many people in previous elections, “It took a lot to convince me we needed a new building,” Brim said. But once in place “it will be a good day for education. A lot of issues will be eliminated that we have now. The new building will be safe, secure and handicap accessible.”
Now the attention will turn to designing and constructing the new school, planned north of the high school off Township Road 114.
“I know that the hardest work is still ahead,” Penczarski said. “It’s building a building correctly, working together, using what the taxpayers are giving us wisely.”
She added, “We need to make sure the building is everything we said it would be.”
In the next few weeks Penczarski said the board will start meeting with the architect, Garmann Miller Associates, on design of the new school. The design process is expected to take up to a year, during which they will be seeking input from the staff, administration, students, parents and community members.
She said they also will be putting together a building team with community residents who are experts in different fields to make good decisions on the building.
Blue, after the hard work passing the bond issue, is looking forward to the board’s task in the design and construction process.
“It’s going to be fun doing all the work,” he said.

By TIM THOMAS
Times editor

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Posted by Kenton Times on November 9, 2011. Filed under Election,Featured,Local News,Recent Headlines,Recent Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry