Letters to the Editor
Finishing what we started…..
Like so many people, I seem to start a lot of projects that I have good intentions to finish, yet for one reason or another, the job remains incomplete.
But right now, we as a community have an opportunity to finish what we started back in November of 2001. If you’ll remember, we were all still shaken by the tragic events our country had endured on 9/11. The economic situation was deteriorating and companies that had never faced layoffs were reducing their staff by large numbers. I was employed at Bullen Ultrasonics, Inc. at the time and felt the effects of those cuts as well. For the first time in 18 years, I had to tell people they had lost their jobs – trust me, it’s no fun. But that experience taught me that many positive things could happen even during a gloomy economy and an uncertain time. As a district, we were able to look past the obstacles and see the “big picture”. That’s when we began the journey of bringing our educational facilities up to a level that our students and staff deserve.
Since that time, we have completed the new high school, renovated East Elementary entirely, and made minimal improvements to the middle school and Bruce Elementary. When prospective employees visit us from other areas, it has been a pleasure to show them these facilities and share what is yet to come for Eaton Community Schools. Moreover, we can now add the “Excellent” rating we received from the State of Ohio. We have momentum and are heading in the right direction.
As I stated earlier, we now have the opportunity to finish what we started – with a great deal of help from the State of Ohio. The State has promised that if we raised the initial funds (as we did in 2001), they will provide the funds to finish the job. That money is now ready and available, a total of almost $24 million dollars. Our job is to make up the difference between the 2001 and 2009 assessments of our buildings. We are asking for your support of a 1.9 mill levy. This levy will include a 0.5 mill maintenance portion which the State requires of us, the remainder is to upgrade floors, roofs and other items which will give us the most appealing and maintenance friendly facilities for our buck. This request for your support will cost approximately $60 per year for a home valued at $100,000.
Individually we may not always finish what we start, but together we can complete this huge task. Let’s finish what we started. Thanks for your support!!
Tony Little, President
Eaton Community School Board