January 27, 2011
Reynoldsburg schools
Dackin wants least disruptive boundary plan By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Superintendent Steve Dackin wants to keep Reynoldsburg school attendance boundaries similar to what they are now but include a plan to feed into the academy structures being rolled out for the next school year. In making recommendations for new district attendance boundaries, Dackin said he wanted to create a process that
is least disruptive to the community as a whole. “We’ve gone over a lot of challenges over the last three years, most of which resulted from our finances, so one of the things we can do in this process is preserve the criteria the committee came up with — which in this particular case, accomplishes that goal,” Dackin said. A 23-member steering committee, including co-chairs Loretta King, Scott Smith, and consultant Chuck Warner
of Warner Concepts LLC, has spent the past few months analyzing information from collected data and from two community meetings to come up with attendance boundary options. They presented the committee’s recommendations to Dackin late last month. “I think the group did a very nice job in balancing all of these things and I think we came up with some pretty good suggestions that we handed over to Mr. Dackin,” Smith said.
He said one important point was to keep boundaries coherent as students move through elementary, middle school, junior high and high school. Another goal was to keep the idea of “neighborhood schools” and not bus kids past one school to get to another, unless it is a school of choice, he said. “We also wanted to keep diversity, social and economic diversity, as closely as possible balanced out, and keep transportation time down,” Smith said.
Based on what the steering committee presented to him, Dackin has recommended establishing Summit Road Elementary, currently under construction, as a 100-percent STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) school of choice beginning in the 201112 school year. The school would be available for any child in the school district through See BOUNDARY PLAN, page A2
Miller takes over as service director
SPAGHETTI FUNDRAISER
By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Andrea Kjerrumgaard/ThisWeek
(Above) Russ and Glenda Kravig, of Pataskala, enjoy a spaghetti dinner during a fundraiser for the Reynoldsburg Community Association at Messiah Lutheran Church in Reynoldsburg on Jan. 22. (Right) Dick Hudson pours sauce on to a plate of spaghetti for Reynoldsburg resident Rose Anne Snoke. The RCA hosts annual community events, such as the Fourth of July parade.
Reynoldsburg’s director of engineering, Jim Miller, is now the city’s service director. He succeeds former safety service director Pam Boratyn, who left earlier this month to accept a position as general counsel with the Ohio Attorney General’s office. Mayor Brad McCloud made the decision effective Jan. 10. McCloud said he initially asked Miller to be acting service director in addition to his engineering duties, but then decided to give him the title of service director. Miller received a salary increase of nearly 6 percent, bringing his annual pay to $79,000. He said he is confident about Miller’s ability to take on the service director position. “Jim has proven he has the capability to do that job, and I’m comfortable and confident in his abilities, and that is why he is there,” McCloud said. “As good as he is, he can’t be everywhere at once, so that’s why we’re looking at our staffing needs as we begin to move forward.” As for hiring a new person as safety director, McCloud said he will continue to oversee those responsibilities in the short-term until he decides what he wants to do in the future. Miller said he was elated and flattered that McCloud entrusted him with handling the service director responsibilities. “My title is service director now, but I’m still functioning as a city engineer in addition to the See SERVICE DIRECTOR, page A4
Police look into ‘unusual’ number of copper thefts By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
City council declares Feb. 6 Ronald Reagan Day By DAVID S. OWEN He had been diagnosed with ThisWeek Community Newspapers Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Councilman Doug Joseph introReynoldsburg City Council voted duced the resolution during a finance unanimously last week to approve committee meeting on Jan.18. Couna resolution recognizing Feb. 6 as cil approved it on Jan. 24. Ronald Reagan Day. “A lot of state legislatures around Feb. 6 would have been the for- the country have been doing these mer president’s 100th birthday. resolutions, some cities following Reagan served two terms as pres- suit, and I was familiar with the state ident of the United States. He died version, so we simply modified it on June 5, 2004, at the age of 93. so we could do the same thing in
Reynoldsburg,” Joseph said. He said an organization called the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project was established a few years ago with the idea of commemorating and celebrating the 100th anniversary of Reagan’s birth. “What they wanted to do is encourage legislative bodies all over the country to formally pass a res-
A closer look Reynoldsburg City Council voted unanimously last week to approve a resolution recognizing Feb. 6 as Ronald Reagan Day. Feb. 6 would have been the former president’s 100th birthday.
Weekly newspaper.
News: (740) 888-6100 editorial@thisweeknews.com Sports: (740) 888-6054 sports@thisweeknews.com
Classified: (740) 888-5003 classified@thisweeknews.com Customer Service: 1-888-837-4342
See COPPER THEFTS, page A2
See REAGAN DAY, page A2
DIRECTORY
Retail ads: (740) 888-6035 sdame@thisweeknews.com
Reynoldsburg police are investigating a string of thefts throughout the city involving copper materials being taken from homes. “We’ve had a number of copper thefts — quite a few, quite frankly. It’s kind of unusual because we haven’t had copper thefts in some time,” Lt. Scott McKinley said. Detective Mike Binder said since Dec. 8, there have been at least 18 such burglaries in Reynoldsburg. Binder said the thieves are targeting vacant houses, most of which have “for sale” signs in front of them. Once the thieves gain access to the houses, they remove copper pipes and wires.
Daily updates. View exclusive videos, stories, photos and more. Connect with other fans, parents and athletes. CHAT WITH YOUR FRIENDS, CHEER ON YOUR TEAM.
Central Ohio’s choice for community news.
ThisWeekNEWS.com | ThisWeekSPORTS.com