By Dedra Cordle
Staff Writer
While the official student enrollment numbers for the South-Western City Schools District are not slated to be released until later this year, unofficial projections show the district will likely see an increase in the student body.
“The enrollment center has been very busy,” said Deputy Superintendent David Stewart at the Aug. 27 board of education meeting.
According to Stewart, the recent numbers from the center show nearly 3,500 students were seeking enrollment in the district, with more than 2,000 of those being new enrollments to the district.
“That follows our historical trend of moving upward (in numbers),” he said.
In an earlier presentation to the board, Carl Metzger, the assistant superintendent of personnel, said the district would able to cover the projected upward trend as there are a sufficient number of teachers, but added that would have to be modified should enrollment be larger than expected.
“We may have to add more teachers depending on how we are sitting in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Regarding the subject of teachers and other school personnel, Metzger told the board that 330 positions have been filled this summer.
“We have hired 10 new administrators, 176 certificated, non-administrative personnel and 144 classified positions.”
He added that among those numbers, 178 are “new faces” to the district.
Board president Lee Schreiner asked how the district is faring with substitute teachers. Metzger told the board those numbers too are sufficient, but noted they are currently interviewing for substitute teaching positions.
“We need as many as we can possibly find,” he said.
Also giving a “back-to-school” presentation was Mark Waller, the coordinator of property services and construction projects.
According to Waller, a number of upgrades have been made to schools throughout the summer with a roofing project at Central Crossing High School, bathroom upgrades at Grove City and Westland High School, and classroom additions at Bolton Crossing and East Franklin Elementary Schools being the most notable.
“Those bathrooms at Grove City and Westland did not meet the standards of the (Americans with Disabilities Act) so we needed to fix that,” Waller said.
He said the restroom modifications were made near the common areas in order to serve the general public for after school events.
In regard to the Bolton Crossing classroom additions, Waller told the board he believes the project will be completed in early 2019.
In other news, Schreiner announced that the 1.86-mill bond issue that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot will be called Issue 7. The ‘no-new millage’ bond issue will allow for the replacement of four of the oldest middle schools as well as renovations to Jackson Middle and East Franklin Elementary School.
