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January 2, 2014

Major projects are on Dublin’s 2014 agenda By JENNIFER NOBLIT THISWEEKNEWS.COM

Continued pursuit of excellence tops ’14 goals By JENNIFER NOBLIT THISWEEKNEWS.COM Dublin’s new superintendent said he will continue to work to keep the district on the path of excellence in the new year. As Superintendent Todd Hoadley looks into 2014, he’s got a long todo list with his plans to continue improvements at Dublin City Schools. Technology will continue to be integrated into education at Dublin City Schools in 2014. “We’ll continue to work on technology and the implementation of technology in the way we do business as a school,” Hoadley said. “We have pockets of excellence in that area. We need to make it a district of excellence.” A Chinese class has been offered at Dublin’s three high schools that lets the teacher post lessons online and uses video to hold class at all three schools at the same time. “That’s a model I think you’ll see us expand in the future,” Hoadley said, noting the method can be used for upper-level high school courses that may have less interest at some schools than others.

Inside

Dublin City School District Superintendent Todd Hoadley speaks about the coming year in the Dublin City Schools Administration Office. JOSHUA A. BICKEL/THISWEEKNEWS

“We always have to be mindful that curriculum is the same across all three high schools.” The district did not receive a first-round grant from the state’s StraightA fund in 2013, but will apply for the second round in 2014. “We’re looking at who got it,” Hoadley said. “We’re not going to turn in the same grant request.” The grant the district turned in was based on continuous improvements through training staff in Lean Six Sigma. “We want to be about continuous improvement here at the school district,” Hoadley said.

“We want to continue down the pathway of operational excellence,” he said. The program, Hoadley said, focuses on continuous improvement in the district through efficiency and reducing defects. “In public education we can use a business model by doing more and more for students while the financial model is decreasing,” he said. Although the district didn’t receive a grant, the program will go on. “We’ll continue our partnership with Cardinal Health and OSU,” Hoadley said. “The grant request would have funded 10 people through the program. OSU allowed 10 people to go through the first four days of classes.” The district will continue to deal with the new state-mandated third grade reading guarantee in 2014. About 10 percent of thirdgraders who took the state reading test in October did not meet the state benchmark. If they do not meet the benchmark when they take the test again in the spring, they will be held back. “It’s an end-of-year test that we gave to children at the beginning of the third grade,” Hoadley said of the state test. Plans are in the works to get students who did not meet state benchmarks up to snuff in time for the spring test, Hoadley said. “Personal phone calls have

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been made to every parent of a student not showing the trajectory,” he said. “We’ll talk about how to best partner for the child.” Dublin’s Race to the Top funding will end in June with the fiscal year and Hoadley said new goals will be developed. “District goals have been aligned with Race to the Top,” he said. “In 2014, we’ll have conversations on what our new goals are.” As for finances, Treasurer Stephen Osborne isn’t expecting many surprises in 2014. “It’s a little less active of a year,” he said. “It’s not a biennial budget year. “The state will be introducing modification bills to make any changes they need to or any adjustments if state revenue and the budget aren’t made,” Osborne said. “But there’s not a lot of movement at the state level as it is an election year.” The district will negotiate new contracts with classified and certified staff in 2014, Osborne said. “Other than that, we’re holding steady,” he said. For facilities, Hoadley said maintenance is the key in 2014. “A lot of buildings were built in the 80s and 90s,” he said. “They’re coming to the 20to 30-year mark. We’re having

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Maintenance has been a major focus for Dublin in previous years, but in 2014 new projects will reign. Dublin has been working on redevelopment plans for the Bridge Street District since 2009 and this year some of that work will come to fruition. Funding for construction isn’t scheduled until 2015, but plans and land acquisition for the realignment of Riverside Drive, a pedestrian bridge across the Scioto River, two riverside parks and a roundabout at the intersection of Riverside Drive and state Route 161 will be ongoing in 2014. “One of the things we did in 2013 was preliminary engineering so we could better understand Riverside Drive,” City Manager Marsha Grigsby said, adding that a detailed design of the road realignment will come next. “The pedestrian bridge is the next step and park development,” Grigsby said. Dublin has already purchased some land for the project and is in talks with more land owners. “Construction is programmed in 2015,” Grigsby said. “It doesn’t mean it will happen then, but the money is scheduled.” Another major construction project that could start as soon as late 2014 is improvements to the Interstate 270/U.S. Route 33 interchange. Construction moved up drastically when the project received $51 million from Gov. John Kasich’s $3 billion transportation plan. Preliminary planning and environmental work was done in 2013, Grigsby said. In 2014 detailed design and land acquisition will be done with hopes to award a contract for construction by the end of the year. “We will launch a massive campaign to let people know about lane closures,” said Sandra Puskarcik, Dublin’s director of community relations. With construction going on in two parts of the city, Grigsby

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said Dublin will look closely at scheduling and maintaining traffic. “Any time you do construction to make improvements you have headaches,” she said. “Some plans will include maintenance of traffic or other traffic connections. There are going to be impacts.” One route will open up in 2014. The construction of the eighth and final phase of Emerald Parkway will start this year and is slated to be completed by November. Once completed, the road will run from Tuttle Crossing Boulevard to Sawmill Road. “Now it becomes more critical,” Grigsby said. “We’ll have that roadway open. It will be available for (drivers).” Grigsby is hoping work on the intersection at Glick and Dublin roads will continue in the New Year as well. “We’re working with Shawnee Hills on funding,” she said, noting that if a grant is approved the construction contract could be awarded in 2014. “We’re working on (land) acquisitions for that project.” The project would add turn lanes to the intersection that is prone to backups at busy times. Elsewhere in the city a project to bury all utility lines in the Metro Place area will be finished in 2014, Grigsby said. “It improves the reliability of service and aesthetics,” she said. “We need to make sure we have a good power source to our commercial areas.” The bike path on Brand Road will be finished in the spring, providing a multi-use path from Dublin Road to Muirfield. Work will also continue on closing gaps in the Dublin Road South path although construction is dependent on how quickly land acquisition moves. When completed, the path will

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