Perrysburg considers new 7-8 grade building

3/19/2012

To deal with overcrowding classrooms and a growing city, Perrysburg City Schools should build a new building for grades 7 and 8 on the high school campus, an ad-hoc committee recommended Monday night.

The proposal also calls to convert the current junior high into a building for grades 5 and 6.

For the past 10 months, a group of community leaders, including Mayor Nelson Evans, studied the district’s buildings and growth at the request of school officials.

The school board did not take any action Monday night, but the committee pitched a new levy placed on the ballot in 2014 or 2015 to pay for the proposed project, estimated to cost up to $38 million.

Despite hearing three parents and teachers’ complaints, the school board also lifted its ban on technology, such as iPads, smart phones, and other devices. Several said they were concerned about such devices in the hands of elementary schoolchildren.

Under the new policy, students in all grades can use electronic devices before and after school as well as during lunch or in the classroom with the teacher’s discretion. Only high school students are permitted to use the devices in between classes.

As technology changes, the district needed to update its policy to regulate it, said Superintendent Thomas Hosler.

“We have to respond to that,” Mr. Hosler said. “The worst thing we can do is nothing.”