WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The latest in a series of public forums examining Lakota Schools’ facilities needs in the wake of a fall levy loss saw the district's leader acknowledge that voters’ message came through clearly.
Lakota officials saw the district’s proposed property and bond issue defeated by voters by a 60.81% to 39.19% margin in November.
Superintendent Ashley Whitely recently stood before an audience of more than two dozen at the district’s latest community meeting, pointed to the sweeping changes diagramed on a large, projected image — including proposed construction of four new schools and the closing of nine current schools — and said “we heard the residents” in their rejection of the proposed plan and its costs.
“This whole package (facilities plan) is not what is going to be coming back in the future … but we need to talk about how we flex that (plan) and change that to meet our community’s needs,” Whitely said.
Whitely, along with Lakota Treasurer Adam Zink, encouraged the audience to share what they believed should be the facilities' priorities in any future plan.
The community meetings in recent weeks, combined with solicitation of public opinions via the district’s website, have been “an opportunity to hear from our community” in the aftermath of the wide rejection of the previous facilities master plan, Whitely said.
She said the district leadership is working with the Lakota Board of Education to “come up with what is the next option, what is the timing of that option and ultimately what would it all cost for our taxpayers.”
Since Whitely started in August 2024 as head of the 17,000-student school system, which draws enrollment from West Chester and Liberty townships, she has participated in more than 100 community meetings on a variety of topics besides the recent months’ focus on Lakota’s master facilities plan.
“The number one thing I heard about is that we need smaller class sizes and that space is at a premium,” she told the audience last week at the MidPointe Library in West Chester Township.
The public input solicitation from before and after the November election will now be used to formulate a new facilities plan, Whitely said.
Lakota school parent Tina Carpenter said she appreciated all the efforts by district officials to get feedback on the future of facilities in the district.
Whitely has “had so many forums with the community, and I really appreciate it,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter, who is a PTO member at Endeavor Elementary, said the lack of space in some classrooms is a chronic problem there and elsewhere in the district.
“They (district officials) should keep doing the public opinion research and trying to reach out to the community about the next steps,” she said.
