JEROMESVILLE — A majority of survey respondents in the Hillsdale Local School District have expressed support for a program to arm staff and with plans to build new facilities using pipeline revenue.
In about one month since a community survey regarding arming staff was placed on the district’s website, 202 people have responded, Supt. Steve Dickerson said Tuesday evening during a school board meeting.
About 82 percent said they would support such a program, though many of those people added comments expressing concerns or advocating for intensive training, Dickerson said.
“Still, you have almost 18 percent that are not in favor of it, and very vocally not in favor of it,” Dickerson said. “It’s a scary topic, and I understand that. But I think at least we need to address it and get it out there in front of our community so that we can make an informed decision.”
Dickerson said no decision has been made on arming staff. If board members do decide to move forward, Dickerson plans to recommend a Buckeye Firearms Association program called FASTER (Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response) to vet and train volunteers from among the district’s staff.
Though many people commented on social media or contacted Dickerson to express support or disapproval of the idea after a previous story on the topic was published by Ashland Source Monday, no one commented publicly at Tuesday’s meeting.
In another survey, district officials are asking community members to weigh in on the district’s plans to used anticipated new tax revenue from the Rover Pipeline to construct new schools.
More than 91 percent of the 163 respondents to that survey said “yes,” Hillsdale does need new facilities. More than half of those “yes” voters said the district should move forward as soon as the Ohio Department of Taxation provides a preliminary assessment in October.
Other respondents wanted the district to wait until some of the money is in the bank before spending the anticipated revenue.
If the assessment is consistent with his projections, Dickerson told community members in March, he believes the district could pay off a $35 million construction project in 16 years or less, without raising taxes.
Dickerson acknowledged there are still unknowns both in the assessed value of the pipeline and compressor station and in the state’s school funding formula.
“There’s going to be a lot of things to look at,” Dickerson said. “It’s going to be a lot of figure watching, state watching, seeing how the new biennium budgets come out and how it will affect the district when they do the revaluation.”
Dickerson said he will leave both surveys up on the district’s website through the summer, both to allow more time for community input and to wait for the full board to return before making any decisions. Two board members were absent from Tuesday’s meeting. The armed staff survey can be found here, and the facilities survey can be found here.
At the board of education’s next meeting in August, Dickerson will share more detailed, and updated, survey results with the full board and the public. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. August 14 in the middle school cafeteria.
