After bond issue failure, Teays Valley looks for options

TEAYS VALLEY, Ohio (WCMH)  -- As communities in central Ohio grow, so do school districts. Enrollment is up at Teays Valley Local Schools, but district leaders said that growth will be harder to handle without new buildings.

On the May primary ballot, Teays Valley asked for money to build two new schools to help with capacity issues; 68 percent of voters turned it down, leaving Superintendent Kyle Wolfe to look for new solutions.

“A school district like ours, which is growing, which is running out of capacity, which is educating kids in hallways, closets, stages and modular classrooms, it's going to be a difficult go moving forward,” Wolfe said.

The superintendent said he had hoped voters would back the district’s plan for two new intermediate schools for fifth and sixth graders, which would have freed up space at the elementary and middle schools.

“People do not want to pay any more taxes, and that's the traditional way that schools come back to the residents to build new facilities,” Wolfe said. “We do not need operating money, but we're simply out of capacity.”

Now, Teays Valley is redistricting some students and will add more modular classrooms.

“While our staff makes those spaces as inviting as possible, they're not great learning environments for kids,” Wolfe said.

Parent Kim Miller has two kids in the district and she said the middle schools are particularly tight.

“We’re out of space, we're out of locker space, we're out of classrooms, we're out of gym space, art space, music space, hallway space, cafeteria space, restroom space,” Miller said.

These changes come as the Teays Valley area grows. Wolfe said there are six new neighborhoods currently being built.

Parents like Miller have encouraged school leaders to put the issue in front of the voters again.

“We’re out of space already, let alone the amount of space it's needed for the kids who are coming in and the new homes,” Miller said.

Superintendent Wolfe said the district won’t go back to the ballot in November. He said more work needs to be done to educate the community on the capacity issues and cost.