Ovid-Elsie facilities panel takes up assessment Sept. 9 in Elsie

The board committee that has been driving Ovid-Elsie Area Schools toward a building program meets again on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 4 p.m. in the Ovid-Elsie High School student lounge in Elsie. The posted purpose is one line: "Facilities Assessment Discussion."

That is the piece of the puzzle the public still has not seen. As The Current has reported, the Ovid-Elsie board approved an application to the state's School Bond Qualification and Loan Program on a 4-3 vote at its July 20 regular meeting, and the facilities committee spent August interviewing firms — Clark and Christman for construction management on Aug. 10, GMB and Kingscott for architecture on Aug. 11. Through all of it, no dollar figure, no project list and no election date has been made public.

A facilities assessment is normally where those numbers start: a walk-through of each building, a list of what is failing and an estimate of what it costs to fix. Whatever the committee discusses Sept. 9 is the raw material for the size of any bond question Ovid-Elsie eventually puts on a ballot, and for the tax bill that would follow.

The notice itself is signed by board Secretary Becky Williams and carries a mixed label. The heading reads "Notice of Board Work Session," while the body announces "a facilities committee meeting of the Ovid-Elsie Board of Education." The notice does not say which board members will attend or whether the full board is expected. The committee's August meetings drew two of its three members, according to minutes the district posted.

The district's board minutes are kept at the administration office at 8989 E. Colony Road in Elsie, and the notice lists 989-834-2271 as the board's principal office number. The district says it will make reasonable accommodations for a disabled person to participate on request to the superintendent.

Two related questions from August are still open. The full board was scheduled Aug. 19 to select a construction manager and an architect, and no outcome has been reported. And after the Aug. 5 work session on enrollment and possible grade reconfiguration, the board took no action and set no date to return to restructuring or to begin talking with the community — a decision that would shape which buildings any bond money goes into.

What happens next: The facilities committee meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the high school student lounge. The notice does not include an agenda packet or say whether the assessment will be presented in writing; the desk has asked the district for the assessment, the Aug. 19 selection results and any timeline for a bond question.