Grove City Messenger - September 5th, 2021

PAGE 4 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - September 5, 2021
In Education
By Dedra Cordle
Staff Writer
The South-Western City Schools District has a fleet of
more than 200 buses. All are housed as its transportation
lot located off Southwest Boulevard in Grove City.
When school is in session, this lot is a hub of activity.
Not only are buses coming in and out of the depot multiple
times a day to take students to school and back home, but
so too are the vehicles of the employees as they start or end
their scheduled shift.
When school is not in session, however, this lot is still a
hub of activity though much of it happens outside of the
scope of the naked eye.
As the heavy buses sit on the lot and as the summer sun
beats down on the ground, miniscule fissures start to grow
underneath the asphalt, slowly expanding until they make
their way to the surface. When they do, action has to be
taken to stop their destructive process before they start to
pose a problem for the fleet and employee vehicles.
Recently, these cracks have become a problem. In May,
the board of education approved a resolution that paved
the way for $400,000 worth of repairs to be made at the
transportation lot. These improvements took place over
the course of the summer but district officials say there is
more work to be done.
On Aug. 23, Mark Meadows, the district’s supervisor of
property services, presented the board of education with
an overview of the construction project. He said it was so
expansive that it had to be broken down into three phases
which will take place throughout 2023.
Phase one was completed before the start of the 2021-22
school year, he said. The scope of this phase included the
removal of the current asphalt and the installation of a
“roller-compacted concrete” to extend its lifespan so it better
holds the weight of the buses.
“This should service us for years to come,” Meadows
said.
Additional phase one improvements include the extension
of car parking to allow for safer bus turning radius
and the inclusion of additional parking areas for
both cars and smaller buses.
According to Sandra Nekoloff, the district’s
executive director of communications, phases two
and three will entail additional asphalt replacements
and resurfacing repairs. She said these
additional phases still need to go out for bid so she
does not have an estimate as to how much money
the entire project will cost.
Meadows said additional, albeit smaller, projects
were undertaken this summer throughout the
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Construction projects discussed in school district
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district as well.
“Summers are always busy in the facilities and property
services department, and this summer has proved to be no
different,” he said.
According to Meadows, asphalt repairs were also done
at Buckeye Woods and Darby Woods Elementary, behind
the recreation center at Westland High School, and at the
district’s service center.
He said asphalt improvements are also slated to be
done at the district’s maintenance yard.
“This is an effort to get the district on track for a much
more regular (sealing and striping) routine.”
Other summer improvements include exterior painting
of the Bostic Center and Darby Woods; playground renovations
at Finland, Harmon and Stiles elementary; dugout
improvements at Westland; gate partition repairs at
Westland and Grove City high school; and HVAC improvements
at the preschool.
Meadows also said a scoreboard was ordered for the
boys baseball and girls softball teams at Westland. They
are slated to be delivered in the fall.
In other meeting news, Carl Metzger, the assistant
superintendent of personnel, gave a staffing update to the
board. According to Metzger, the district has 2,773 certificated
and classified employees. Of that number, 1,748 are
certificated employees (1,644 teachers, 104 administrators)
and 1,025 are classified.
He also added that the district is looking for bus drivers,
substitute bus drivers, custodians, teacher’s aides,
and substitute teachers. He said to visit their website at
www.swcsd.us for more information on how to apply.
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Messenger photo by Dedra Cordle
Parents protest SWCS mask policy
More than 50 parents and children attended the South-Western City Schools Board of Education meeting
on Aug. 23 to protest the recent decision to require students in pre-kindergarten to sixth grade to wear
facial coverings at the start of the 2021-22 school year. Attendees said they felt the district was “giving into
fear” from the media and public health officials over COVID-19 data and wanted their children to have the
option to wear a mask if they so choose. Shown here, protesters hold up signs after the meeting where the
board gave Superintendent Dr. Bill Wise discretion on when to lift the mask requirement for preschool, elementary,
and intermediate school students.