With a renewal levy coming up for the Lucas Local School District, Superintendent Dan Freund wanted to clarify some incomplete information published about the upcoming levy at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
“This is a renewal levy,” explained Freund. “This is what we need to let people know.” The wording with the Richland County Board of Elections specifies “Lucas Local School District – Tax Levy – Renewal –2.9 mills – 5 Yrs – Emergency Requirements.“
An article published on August 1 by the Mansfield News Journal referred to the levy as a “$12.9 levy” and this brought about quite a few phone calls to Freund’s office as residents took this to mean new dollars being asked for by the school district.
The school district is pulling together a committee to begin a campaign to get the correct information out about the renewal levy.
“I think a lot of those people who read that original piece in the paper have their minds made up already,” said board President Roger Maglott. “They’re going to vote against it, so we’re going to have to get through to those people that we’re not wanting new money.”
The board also discussed Randy Endsley’s resignation from the school board. The vacancy needs to be filled within the next 30 days. The board has called two special board meetings before the next regular board meeting to interview anyone interested in serving on the school board.
Letters of interest will be accepted until noon on Thursday, Aug. 28, and the first meeting will take place at 6 p.m. the same day. If a candidate is not chosen at that time, the second meeting will take place the following Thursday, Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the Office of the Superintendent.
Also during the meeting, Pee Wee football coach Jon Barrett presented a written proposal to bring wrestling to Lucas Schools. Barrett would like to initiate a junior high and a youth wrestling program that would begin next year, using this year to secure the necessary mats and practice locations, as well as bringing in coaches.
Barrett researched the cost of mats and how other wrestling programs in the area have operated. He also suggested doing a survey of second through tenth graders to see if these boys would be interested in wrestling.
Superintendent Freund said he would look into the wrestling program proposal and meet again with Coach Barrett.
Freund noted at the meeting that three third graders from Lucas had perfect scores in the Ohio Achievement Assessments. The test, for grades 3-8, measure students on what they know and are able to do in various subjects.
