"They say they want to give the people a chance to vote on the transfer, but the people already voted, when they elected the new board members.” – Chris Yaecker
With little discussion, the West Geauga Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to approve the proposed transfer of Newbury Schools to the West Geauga district.
The meeting room at the board office was packed, primarily with about 70 Newbury residents. One side of the room appeared to be occupied by members and supporters of It’s Time, a pro-consolidation group, including two announced candidates for the Newbury school board: Dave Lair and Terri Rice. Both candidates are pledged to facilitate the transfer process.
West Geauga school board President Ben Kotowski explained Ohio Revised Code section 3311.22 allows for territory transfer of one school district within a county’s educational service center into an adjacent district served by the same ESC.
“It is allowed as long as the districts are adjoined, a school district requests the transfer, all of the school district is transferred and the transfer is adopted in an open meeting,” Kotowski said. “This is in compliance with all the requirements (under Ohio law).”
With no further discussion, the five board members each voted in favor of the transfer.
Immediately following the vote, about half of the audience — those sitting on the opposite side of the room from the It’s Time group — abruptly got up and walked out. An angry expletive was heard as the door closed behind them.
Following the meeting, West Geauga Superintendent Richard Markwardt issued the following statement:
“Tonight, the West Geauga Board of Education took action to continue the process of joining the Newbury Local School District to the West Geauga Local School District through the process of a Territory Transfer.
“The action was a ‘Resolution Requesting the Governing Board of the Geauga County Educational Service Center to Propose the Transfer of Territory of all the Newbury Local School District to the West Geauga Local School District.’
“If the process continues as anticipated, the Newbury Territory Transfer’s effective date would be July 1, 2020, for the 2020-2021 school year.”
After the meeting, Chris Yaecker, one of the organizers of the It’s Time group, told the Geauga County Maple Leaf that he has heard rumors that some Newbury residents plan to collect signatures and file petitions with the Geauga County Board of Elections to place a referendum on the ballot that would delay the transfer for another two years.
“What would that accomplish?” asked Yaecker, adding that delaying what he thinks is an inevitable process would only create more problems and expense, as Newbury’s enrollment continues to dwindle.
Yaecker said he believes a petition drive would need 1,469 registered voters to place a referendum on the ballot.
“That actually means they would need at least 1,800 signatures, or even more, to make sure enough were valid,” Yaecker said. “I really doubt they could find that many. They say they want to give the people a chance to vote on the transfer, but the people already voted, when they elected the new board members.”
In November 2017, a slate of three Newbury school board candidates — Maggie Zock, Kimya Matthews and Terry Sedivy — were elected on the platform of reopening merger talks with other school districts. They have since voted to transfer the district to West Geauga.
