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COLUMBIANA -- The Columbiana School District has finished some facility upgrades while continuing to work on others, bringing some improvements to the buildings that have not been done in years.
District Superintendent Dr. Don Mook is proud of the work the district has completed and is continuing to complete without the help of state funding or additional local tax dollars.
Some of the projects recently completed include improvements to playground facilities.
He said the preschool playground now has new landing pads, which is an added safety element for the children playing there.
He said that the new turf at the playground came about due to the district installing new turf at the soccer field.
"Because we went with the turf for the soccer field, we were talking about turfing the courtyard and then it had a safety factor for the preschool kids, so we did that, and that was just finished," he explained, referring to the courtyard at the elementary school building.
The preschool playground equipment is currently being moved back in following the turf installation.
Mook is also happy to have new lighting at the soccer and track fields.
"For the first time in my 18 years now, we have lights that we do can soccer, track. We had a Powder Puff game last week under the lights and we didn't have that ability before," he said.
While the school district does have the ability to have some athletics in Firestone Park, which does have lighting, the track and soccer competitions are all done at the school facilities.
The new lighting was supposed to be installed in the spring but the work was instead completed over the summer due to rainy weather.
The new lighting also features a color-changing element.
Mook said that with the time change making it darker earlier, the new lighting helps the district not have to plan games around sunlight hours.
"Before it would have to be a 5 p.m start because it is dark by 6 p.m., so that is a big, big improvement at the Ward Athletic Complex," he said.
Other completed projects include the resurfacing of the South Side Middle School playground and the addition of a Four Square game, which Mook said is gaining popularity among students.
The district was also able to install safety speed bumps where parents pick up their children and repair multiple sidewalks around the middle and high school buildings.
"We had a great deal of sidewalk repair done. The high school is 26 years old, and in some cases sidewalks were not repairs since the 1950s," he said.
He went on to say that Columbiana is one of the few school districts without Ohio Schools Facilities Commission project funding for a new building.
"The last time I looked on the OSFC chart we would still have to come up with 75 percent from local tax payers to build a new building," he said.
Because of that, the district is doing what it can to ensure the existing buildings are in the best shape they can be with the funding that is available.
"We are in a pretty good spot for our facilities. A couple of more years and this place will be in tip-top shape. Students are receiving a great education and we are giving them the best facilities that money can buy--both academic and athletic--we feel like we are in a really good spot," he said.
What the future holds for state funding to public schools is yet to be seen and Mook said the district is continuing to keep an eye on the funding, in particular how funding for private and voucher schools pans out.
On another matter, Mook was happy to report that the district met four out of four compliance indicators for Special Education from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
"We are scoring really well academically and we are trying to get our facilities in line with what we do," he said.