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SALEM -- Schools Superintendent Sean Kirkland pushed back against claims made in a flyer that was recently circulated by the Salem Preservation Society in October's school board meeting.
"As the superintendent when you have a bond issue in front of you, you have to speak the facts, and you can only speak the facts, you can't try to lead anyone in the direction of where their vote is going. In a small town like this, we all play in the same sandbox, so I was hoping that everyone would play fair and stick to the facts," said Kirkland.
Kirkland said that much of the information included in the flyer about the plans for the district's current school buildings should the 3.48 mill, 37-year property tax levy to fund the construction of a new K-8 school building pass in November was either inaccurate or misleading. The preservation society has publicly opposed the levy in the past, with Salem Preservation Society President David Schwartz and Preservation Society Member Karen Carter both speaking at length in March against the levy and the district's plans to demolish Reilly and Buckeye Elementary should it pass.
"The flyer has a lot of people questioning whether or not the school district or myself are being honest in what we're presenting to the public, which is probably the most frustrating thing for me because my integrity and character are something that I stand on
obviously, and something that means a whole lot to me," said Kirkland.
Kirkland addressed the flyer's claim that the high school "may be gone" and the insinuation that the district is not being up-front about the full scale of the project, including the existence and nature of the second phase of the project. Kirkland said that the levy would only fund the first phase of the project which would not include replacing the high school. Kirkland also said that he and the district have been up-front about the two-segment nature of the plan since its inception.
"When I tell the public that this is a segmented plan, it means that overall, it's a Pre-K-12 plan; never hid that, that's been transparent. What I've also said is that we're going to do step one of this, which is pre-K through eight; that's what the bond issue is for, we can't do anything else because we're not asking for any more money. If we wanted to do what this leads you to believe, which is knock down the high school, or knock down other buildings, we'd have to do step two. Step two would cost you about another $60 million; I don't think I've seen that on the bond issue," said Kirkland.
Kirkland said that the district have been very clear and consistent that the high school would be unaffected by the passage of the levy and that they had presented that information to the public through multiple mediums. Kirkland also reiterated that the potential second segment would be decades away, since should the levy be approved the funding offer from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) would be locked in at the current 67% offer in perpetuity.
"So, the fact is, and I said this last month, I said this months before that, I've said it on TV, we've put it out in just about every fashion we possibly can; the fact is the high school is not part of this segment. Does that mean there's some sneaky thing going on in the background where as soon as this thing goes away, we're going to knock down the high school? Absolutely not," explained Kirkland. "What this means, this segmented plan, is that I tried to do something that would allow the future of this community to have an opportunity whether it's 30 or 40 years down the road to secure the 67 cents on the dollar as long as the OFCC still exists. That goes into perpetuity, meaning forever, that's all it is. But this is a little bit misleading and says, 'may be gone.' Well I discussed fairly clearly (at the Salem Preservation meeting Oct. 12) that it was not the case, but they chose to still put it out there."
Kirkland also said that using a small excerpt from a letter sent to OFCC Planning Director Bill Prenosil to "try to mislead everybody to believe we're going to knock down the high school" was "truly disappointing."
"Let's stick to the facts and let the folks out there vote; that's how it's supposed to be. I can't sit up here and mislead anybody; I would hope that nobody, no organization nor anybody out there, would do so, and when it happens, understand that when it happens, I will address it every time," said Kirkland.
Kirkland addressed the flyers excerpted quote from an OFCC public information officer that says the district does not have to demolish the buildings. Kirkland explained that the state of Ohio offers the district three options -- to sell the building to their competition, demolish the building or to repurpose it. Kirkland has repeatedly said that selling the buildings to a competitor, such as a charter school, isn't a viable option, meaning that the only other options are to demolish or repurpose the buildings. Kirkland said that neither himself nor the board saw value in repurposing Reilly and that the state would only offer funding to demolish the building.
"The three options are: sell the building to your competitor; that's not really an option, is it? The other one is you can abate it, which is what we said we would do; you tear it down and make it better; or the third option is repurpose it. The building is too old. I don't see value, the board doesn't see value, as a matter of fact the state of Ohio will not give us a penny to put into that building to keep it around, they will only give us the money to knock it down and rebuild," said Kirkland.
Kirkland also categorically denied the assertion that Southeast Elementary would be demolished. Kirkland said that the district not only intended to repurpose the building, but that there were multiple options on how to do so.
"The other question besides the high school not going anywhere, is Southeast. It is the desire to keep Southeast around; it's the youngest building out of the three we're talking about. We believe there's a way to repurpose it and make it financially sound for the district," said Kirkland. "The board's goal at this point, because it is a building that we believe we can repurpose, is to repurpose it. There's many options, we don't have an exclusive contract right now, but there's many options to repurpose that building."
Kirkland also said that the district had been very clear about the plans to demolish Reilly and Buckeye and repurpose Southeast, and that he didn't understand the origin of the claims that Southeast and the high school would be demolished.
"I don't understand where the 'high school may be gone' comes from, 'Southeast gone' clear gone, because it was in the original plan. When you apply for this you have to tell them, 'we'll abate the buildings,' because then you secure the money up front. If you don't knock down the buildings you have to give the money back. To knock down Reilly is about $1.1 million, to knock down Southeast is about $273,000. We have said all along that we will knock down Reilly unless somebody steps up with a bucket of money and wants to invest. I can honestly say I'm not holding my breath," said Kirkland.
Kirkland also said that while it was unlikely, there would be five years for an investor to present the board with a plan to utilize the buildings and the funding to do so prior to demolition, as under the program the demolition of the existing buildings is the last thing completed.
"We sold Prospect School for what I believe was $10,000. Nobody stepped up and said, 'hey, I'll buy it for $11,000 and I'm going to make it into apartments;' it hasn't happened. The reality is that nobody is coming running to do that. If they should, because when you do a program like this, the last thing that happens is the buildings get torn down, so if this bond issue passes, we literally have five years for any organization, anybody out there, to present something to the board that says we can keep it around and here's the funding to do it. Otherwise, the board has stated all along Reilly will have to come down, we will make it better," said Kirkland.
Kirkland also argued that while he understood the historical significance of Reilly Elementary, the building was no longer the same as it was during those historic events, as the district had been maintaining and improving it, and that the current plan was part of the district's efforts to improve and grow.
"What we have tried to do is be as up-front as we possibly can about the building that seems to be bothering people the most, which is Reilly School. I know the history, I know Chuck Noll, he was coach for the Steelers when they won four super bowls, celebrated in Pittsburgh where my family is from, he ran track there, he ran track there for a reason, it was the first school this side of the Mississippi that had lights. Those poles are no longer down there that held the lights. Those poles happen to be on the baseball field right now. The place that he ran was on a cinder track. The track has been moved, it's not the same, it's better, it's better than when JFK spoke there, it's better than when Jesse Owens visited there, it's a better place and what we're trying to do is make it a better place," said Kirkland.
Kirkland also addressed questions regarding a lack of renderings or tentative building plans for the new building had not been addressed. Kirkland said that none of these things had been officially completed as the levy had not been approved yet, and "the planning phase comes after you secure all funding, and until we secure local funding there can be no renderings out there," said Kirkland.
"Salem High School is not being knocked down due to this bond issue, Southeast School is being repurposed, the Buckeye School and Reilly will both be abated unless some steps forward with a very appealing offer to the board. I don't know that I can be any clearer," said Kirkland.
Discussion of the levy continued briefly during public comment as Andy Clutter, a member of the Salem Schools First Pac and parent of two students within the district, invited all in attendance and through the Salem community to attend the Salem School Levy Informational Forum today at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Clutter said that the event is intended to educate voters on the issue so they can make an informed decision when voting, whether in favor or against.