• An 18,500 square-foot preschool addition to the current Board of Education offices, located at the corner of Kemp and Hanes roads;
• A 7,500 square-foot gymnasium and community gathering space at Shaw Elementary;
• A covered, non-enclosed walkway connecting Beavercreek High School to Ferguson Hall, which serves as the home of BHS ninth graders;
• Athletic facility improvements at Coy Middle School, to include a storage building, scoreboard and baseball/softball dugouts.

District leaders said these projects would be paid for from the remaining bond surplus and existing permanent improvement funds. No additional dollars will be requested from the community. (Note: Ohio law stipulates that funds allocated for a bond issue can only be used for permanent improvements, and not for school district operations.)

“We have an opportunity to address some of our facilities needs in a cost-effective way due to the favorable bidding climate, and we are able to do so thanks to prudent fiscal management on the part of district leaders,” said Al Nels, president of the Beavercreek Board of Education. The preschool, gymnasium and walkway projects were part of the original bond proposal in 2007, but were removed when the Board of Education decided to reduce the size of its request. 

Additional information about construction projects State and federal laws mandate that public school districts offer preschool services to children with developmental delays. Beavercreek’s current preschool is housed at Parkwood Elementary, which was built to serve a kindergarten through fifth grade student population. Construction of a separate preschool will allow the district to eliminate the use of mobile classrooms (trailers) at Parkwood, and offer Parkwood and preschool students better and more secure learning environments. It will also position the preschool in a location more central to the community.

The gymnasium at Shaw will be constructed on the southwest side of the building, closest to Kemp Road, and connect to the classroom addition completed in 2005. It will be similar in construction and style to the gym at Trebein Elementary, and include restroom facilities. This project is part of a longer-range goal of improving physical education facilities at all district elementaries using existing permanent improvement funds. Most elementary students currently go a week or more without regular physical education classes because the existing gymnasium areas function roughly three hours of each day as cafeterias. The construction of a gym will also provide the community access to additional recreational space.

The walkway for Beavercreek High School will connect the southeast entrance of Ferguson Hall to the northwest entrance of the main high school building, near the band room. This covered connector will run along the east side of the stadium, between the bleachers and the basketball courts, and provide students with protection from rain and snow.

The athletic improvements at Coy will round out the new outdoor facilities there, and provide storage and protection for sports equipment.

All projects were discussed in Community Forums held recently at Trebein and Parkwood elementaries.

At Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Education also voted to reduce Pay-to-Participate fees for high school and middle school athletics and co- and extra-curricular activities, effective with the 2014-15 school year.

“Extracurricular and co-curricular activities offer important learning, growth and citizenship opportunities for middle and high school students, and we believe it is important to make those opportunities accessible to as many students as possible,” Nels said.

In athletics, Beavercreek High School students currently pay $300.00 per sport, with an individual cap of $600.00 and a family cap of $750.00, fees that rank among the highest in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. These fees will be reduced to $150.00 per sport, with an individual cap of $300.00 and a family cap of $450.00. Middle schoolers, who currently pay $200.00 per sport with an individual cap of $400.00 and a family cap of $750.00, will pay $100.00 per sport, with an individual cap of $200.00 and a family cap of $450.00 in the revised schedule.

Students who participate in activities such as the BHS Academic Team, Beaverettes Dance Team, Speech and Debate, Marching Band or Show Choir will no longer be required to pay participation fees.