Greene County schools ponder possible merger
CARMICHAELS – School directors representing the Carmichaels Area, Jefferson-Morgan and Southeastern Greene school districts met Thursday with a firm retained to conduct a feasibility study on possible school asset consolidations or mergers. School boards from each district voted to retain Hayes Design Group Architects of Bridgeville earlier this year to complete the study, which is expected to take eight months to complete.
Kevin Hayes, who spoke on behalf of Hayes Design Group Architects, said the districts must “walk before they run” when considering any type of merger or consolidation. He said the study would focus primarily on the sharing of assets, programs or services, such as extracurricular activities. He added that any possibility of merging must come after the districts develop trusting and working relationships.
“If you can’t share services and make them work, then (a merger) is not going to work,” Hayes said.
Hayes said the study will offer a 10-year view of what could be possible, but added that the five-year plan would be more accurate.
“Don’t we feel that we owe this to the taxpayers, and number one, to the students to offer them a better education at a lower cost?” asked Southeastern Greene school Director Ed Kamenos. “We took an oath, and we are obligated.”
Committee members agreed that they would rather conduct a study now to determine what is best for the districts than to be forced into a merger by the state, which many members of the committee believe could be a possibility.
To begin the study, Hayes requested that each district provide general information including, student handbooks, administration faculty and staff, transportation costs and data provided by previous feasibility studies. In addition to the general information, Hayes also requested that districts provide facility assessment information including utility bills, curriculum information, extra or co-curricular activities, transportation information, demographics and enrollment projections, financial conditions and food service operations information.
“The quality (of the study) will be affected by the amount, quality and quantity of information provided by the (districts),” Hayes said.
Hayes added that once the districts provide the requested information, the firm will begin the study, which will be conducted in three general stages or phases.
During the first phase, the company will focus determining the current conditions of the districts and the districts’ individual needs. The second phase will focus on generating ideas and options for how the districts may share resources or services. The final phase, which will have less emphasis than the first two phases, will focus on potentially merging two or three of the districts.
According to handout distributed at the meeting, Hayes Design Group Architects defines the general goal of the study as an “outline of conceptual possibilities that the districts could consider acting upon in the near or distant future.”
Following the study, committee members will return to their school boards to discuss study results and the committee’s recommendations. The committee will meet on a regular basis over the course of the study. Meetings will be announced at school board meetings.