Southeast Messenger - August 25, 2019

PAGE 2 - SOUTHEAST MESSENGER - August 25, 2019
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CUT
Continued from page 1
school year. The proposed $6.2 million in
cuts under board consideration if the levy
fails include programs and services not
required by state law or regulations, which
include:
•Academic programs, $4.1 million: art,
music, band, physical education for grades
K-8, gifted program, and tightening up
special education to federal guidelines.
•Clubs, athletics, and miscellaneous services,
$2.1 million: Security staff for grades 6-
12, K-5 SIC staff, various clubs, athletics,
and busing. (Busing would be cut to the
state minimum, which means no high
school busing and K-8 busing only for students
living two miles or more from school.
No busing cuts could be made mid-school
year, but could be made at the beginning of
the 2020-21 school year if the board
decides to do so.)
“These are programs and services that
are not required by the state and they
would be at risk of being cut if the levy
fails,” said Ogden.
Groveport Madison Communications
Director Jeff Warner said this list of potential
cuts is “a place to start the discussion.”
“We consider everything on this list to
be important and essential in providing
kids the education they deserve,” said
Warner. “We do not want this list of possible
cuts to be seen as a threat. We want
people to see we are being honest and that
we cannot continue to give the same level
www.columbusmessenger.com
A last chance for sloppy summer fun before school began
By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
Sometimes the freedom to be creative
comes with the permission to make a mess.
With that in mind, Groveport Town Hall
came up with the artistic program for kids,
50th
Wedding
Anniversary
Longtime Groveport residents, Bruce and
Vicki Boyer are celebrating 50 years of marriage.
They were married August 30, 1969 at the
Immaculate Conception Church in Willoughby,
Ohio after meeting in Athens, Ohio while both
were attending Ohio University.
They are the proud parents and grandparents
of Shannon, Casey and Dana.
Bruce is retired from the Local 683 Electrician’s
Union and Vicki is retired from Tri-County
Medical Center.
Bruce and Vicki are enjoying their retirement
experiencing all that the great city of Columbus
has to offer. Whether that’s finding a new
restaurant, taking a new class, gallery hop, the
Scioto Mile or just driving up and down High
Street to watch the crazy kids on campus.
Sloppy Summer Days, to inspire creativity.
“Creativity is messy,” said Groveport
Town Hall Activities Assistant II Kristin
Figliola. “Sloppy Summer Days encourages
children to get messy while they create.”
The program was held Aug. 12-16 in
Heritage Park and attracted about a dozen
participants ranging from ages six to 12.
Figliola said some Sloppy
Summer activities included t-shirt tie dye,
making muddy creations using a moveable
mud kitchen, color fight, spray bottle painting,
blow painting, and more.
“These activities were selected to allow
children to have fun and create things
without the worry of making a mess or getting
dirty,” said Figliola.
An interesting art project the kids did as
part of the program was to colorfully paint
the snow plow blades on two of the city of
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Messenger photo by Rick Palsgrove
Kids in Groveport Town Hall’s Sloppy Summer Days program painted flowers, rainbows
and other images as well as their handprints on the blades of the city of
Groveport’s snow plow trucks.
Groveport’s snow plow trucks. The kids’
artwork will remain painted on the snow
plow blades until snow plowing season
wears it off.
“The children put their handprint and
name on the snow plow blade and they
were also encouraged to paint freely to help
brighten up the truck,” said Figliola. “The
city’s Public Works Department thought it
was a great idea to let children paint a city
truck.”
In addition to their handprints, some of
the images the kids painted on the snow
plow blades included colorful flowers and
rainbows. It’s nice to imagine these happy
painted images of summer defiantly facing
down the piles of snow this winter as the
trucks plow the streets.
Figliola said the Sloppy Summer Days
program allowed kids to be kids.
“To get messy and have fun,” said
Figliola. Not to worry about mud on their
hands or paint on their shirt. Sloppy
Summer Days will hopefully be a great end
to summer.”
of service if the levy fails. The district
would not be the same if the levy fails. We
need to maintain what we have and to do
so we need to keep the current level of
funding we are receiving.”
Board President Bryan Shoemaker
emphasized that, if the levy does fail in
November, the district still has time to go
back to the voters for revenue.
“If it doesn’t pass,” said Shoemaker, “we
can go back on the ballot in March before
making any cuts. We’re not anywhere close
to discussing the elimination of busing.”
However, board member Nancy
Gillespie noted, “Busing (if it were cut) is
a big ticket item that does not affect academic
programs.”
“I’d rather cut some staffing (if cuts
were needed),” replied Shoemaker.
Board member Libby Gray said, “It’s
reality. If you don’t have money coming in
you have to consider making cuts. We don’t
want to go backwards, the district has to go
forward. We still have roofs and buildings
that need repairs. We need to hold on to
any money we have.”
Ogden said district officials must be
“clear and communicative” to residents
about Groveport Madison’s needs and the
positive things the schools offer to the students
and community to ensure passage of
the operating levy.
“We want to protect what we value,”
said Ogden.