Bethel BOE discusses meeting with Huber Heights Mayor, council members

BETHEL TOWNSHIP—Officials from the Bethel Local School District have attended the first in a series of planned meetings with representatives from the city of Huber Heights regarding a proposed 296-acre property annexation near the Carriage Trails developments.

“There’s a lot of scenarios there,” Interim Superintendent Mike Nutter said. “There’s a lot of things to think about.”

“Anytime you talk about transfer of territory and the State Board of Education, there’s a lot of moving parts to this, and it’s super-complicated,” he said. “I think there’s a couple more meetings that need to take place. We need some answers.”

Nutter discussed the meeting, which included Huber Heights Mayor Jeff Gore and members of the Huber Heights City Council, during the regularly scheduled Bethel Local Schools Board of Education meeting held on Tuesday, July 16.

“The mayor has indicated that he has an interest in potentially taking Carriage Trails 1 and Carriage Trails 2 into Huber Heights,” Nutter said. “I want to know what their level of interest is.”

Nutter said he plans to set up another meeting with officials from Huber Heights, which could also be followed by a third meeting with the Carriage Trails developer.

“If those kids from Carriage Trails 1 would happen to leave, hypothetically speaking, you’d be down to 500 kids,” he said. “You would empty the building.”

“These are all hypotheticals, but we need to get some further answers,” he said. “If we get an answer from the school district, there’s the next step.”

“A lot of people say different things,” Nutter said. “I just want to get everybody in the same room and have this conversation.”

Nutter also suggested the possibility of a survey to seek input from students and parents in the Carriage Trails area. “There’s things we can do,” he said. “We can take surveys of Carriage Trails 1 to see what their feelings are.”

“I would think they probably want to stay at Bethel,” he said. “That’s probably why they moved there.”

In other business, board members also discussed plans to re-evaluate class fees and the district’s code of conduct, which is included in student handbooks.

“I want to address the vandalism piece, and I also want to clarify the bathroom usage issue,” Nutter said. “Those will all be handled in the code of conduct in the handbooks.”

Board members also discussed possible changes to parking and traffic flow around school buildings.

“I understand that traffic is somewhat of an issue here in the mornings and in the afternoons,” Nutter said. “We’re looking at traffic patterns.”

“We’ve got an issue because we don’t have multiple points of entry or exit, which makes it difficult on a state route,” he said.

“We may look at parking as well,” Nutter said. “It’s my understanding that we mix staff and student parking. We’re going to try to separate those so that students are parked in one area and staff in another for a multitude of reasons.”

Board members also approved two contracts for physical therapy and vision services from the Montgomery County Educational Service Center (ESC). They heard the first reading of several proposed policy changes, including possible changes to the district’s cell phone policy.

“The new cell phone bill that everybody’s talking about, it doesn’t take effect until next school year,” Nutter said. “However, we have a current cell phone policy at Bethel.”

The current policy requires cell phones to be powered off and stored out of sight throughout the school day, Nutter said, but is not currently being enforced.

“My recommendation is to enforce the one you have,” he said. “If we’re not going to enforce it, then we should just get rid of the policy.”

“I know some parents don’t like it,” Nutter said. “If it’s an emergency, call the school. If there’s something wrong with the student, we’ll call you.”

“It’s a good reminder that we have it,” board member Rachael Kiplinger said. “We’re going to start using it.”

“We’re one on one with our Chromebooks,” board Vice-President Regan Butler said. “We shouldn’t have to take out a cell phone if there’s downtime.”

Board members also heard an announcement about the district’s Central Office Building, which will be closed next week due to floor work.

“Our old building is getting the floors done, so we are being kicked out for next week,” district Treasurer Tina Hageman said. “We’ll be available, checking voicemails, and checking emails, but unfortunately, we’re not allowed to walk on the floor.”