All three candidates cited the district’s growing population and maintaining adequate facilities to accommodate new students as their top priorities. Enrollment has grown from 7,918 in the 2016-2017 school year to 8,168 students currently. With several new housing subdivisions being built in the area, all three school district candidates are concerned with accommodating additional students.
Candidates were all asked about their stances on book bans, as Beavercreek is one of a few local districts to recently have library books challenged.
Board member Chris Stein, whose term expires the end of this year, did not seek reelection.
Claire Chinske
Credit: VALERIE HAWKINS
Credit: VALERIE HAWKINS
Chinkse is an accountant and former Medicare auditor who is now stay-at-home parent whose children attend Beavercreek schools.
School facilities, better communication from the district and addressing bullying are her top issues.
In order to fund any potential improvements to district facilities, Chinske said, the board needs to investigate diversifying its revenue sources and continue to advocate for changes in school funding at the state level.
improving and update the district’s communication with the community is a priority for her.
“As a parent myself, it can be difficult to find information from the school district, though I imagine it’s much more difficult for community members, and I’d like to see the district improve on that,” she said.
In order to combat bullying, Chinske would recommend that the district reevaluate its character education programs, and audit the reporting process for incidents of bullying to make sure “things are going up the chain of command appropriately,” she said.
“I believe that all children deserve to feel safe at school, and I want to make sure that we have an affirming and welcoming environment for all children in our district,” she said.
Beavercreek’s current policy in regards to challenged educational material is to allow parents to restrict access to certain books on an individual basis for their students, a policy Chinske supports.
“Unilateral book banning is a pretty slippery slope, and you will probably end up with content getting removed that we might not necessarily want to see removed,” she said.
Chinske said her background in accounting and in school funding diversifies the types of experience currently on the board.
“I’ve always been really interested in volunteering in the schools, making sure that all kids have access to a great education, and that’s the next step in terms of continuing to be involved in my community,” she said.
Dennis Morrison
Serving as Beavercreek superintendent from 2002 to 2009, Morrison has worked in education overall for 51 years. His top three priorities for Beavercreek schools are keeping Beavercreek affordable, addressing facilities with increased enrollment and staffing.
The district purchased 90 acres of land at the corner of Indian Ripple and South Alpha Bellbrook roads during Morrison’s tenure as superintendent, he said.
“If indeed we need to build another building, we could build on that site,” he said.
In the face of a nationwide shortage of qualified teachers, attracting and retaining teachers is critical, Morrison said.
“If you look across the country in the last three years, each year for the last three years, more than 100,000 teachers have left the teaching profession,” he said. “We need to make sure that we are attracting and maintaining the best and brightest individuals.”
Morrison said he is personally opposed to book bans but would defer to the district’s curriculum department in terms of official policy.
Morrison has been principal of a National Blue Ribbon School while working at Mad River Schools. He says he is running to be a board member that “embraces servant leadership,” and is fiscally conservative.
“When I was named superintendent, the district had operating funds to last for three days,” he said. “At the same time they had an $11 million tax anticipation note that was looming. By the time I left is Superintendent 2009, we had paid off the entire $11 million tax anticipation note and we had sufficient funds to operate the schools for 60 days, which is standard business operating procedure.”
Gene Taylor
Taylor is running for his third term on the Beavercreek School Board and says his primary concerns are addressing school funding and providing for adequate school facilities.
Beavercreek’s school buildings are over capacity, Taylor said, and as a result has added six classroom “pods” in trailers to three different school buildings. The temporary classrooms are not only an accessibility issue, but present a security problem.
“I’m not happy with that, and for a whole lot of reasons,” he said. “That’s 18 classrooms times 25, that’s how many kids we have outside of the actual school building.”
Taylor said the district recently engaged in a series of community conversations that found building a new high school on the district’s 90 acres was the most favorable option.
Because of Beavercreek’s funding structure (80% funded by residents and 20% funded by the state), Beavercreek residents are experiencing levy fatigue, he said. As such, school officials must be transparent with their levy requests, Taylor said.
“Levies on the ballot require — from the board and from the administration — good transparency and good communication with stakeholder groups and the community in general.
Previously a literature teacher, Taylor is opposed to blanket book bans, adding that Beavercreek has an existing policy of offering alternative material upon parent request.
“A story is a vehicle. How teaching plays into that is not necessarily the story, it’s the debrief of that story: What are the lessons here?” he said.
Taylor has taught for more than 35 years, and owns and operates his namesake construction company in Beavercreek. He said he’s running because of his deep connection to Beavercreek and making the system work for the community.
“I have compassion for kids, teachers, administrators, parents, voters, whether they have kids in school or whether they’re on fixed incomes,” he said. “Our schools are really a flagship organization in the community. That’s why people come here.”
Beavercreek school levy
Beavercreek Local Schools is asking for a 1-mill replacement levy for a levy originally passed in 1989.
The replacement Permanent Improvement Levy is used for capital improvement projects, maintenance and repairs of school property, and purchasing equipment, school officials said, and is not for regular operating expenses of the district.
The purpose of the levy is, in part, to push the collection of funds back up to 1 mill, after falling to about 0.4 mills, and to collect revenue from newly built homes located in the district, officials said.
The levy on the ballot, if approved, would use 2022 property values, not 2023 or the increase in 2024, Beavercreek superintendent Paul Otten said.
If passed, a homeowner would pay $35 a year for every $100,000 in taxable property valuation annually. Under the current property tax, homeowners pay about $14 per $100,000 in property valuation per year.
If approved, the Beavercreek levy would start generating revenue in January 2024 and expire in December 2028. It would collect about $2.2 million per year.
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