Dover, Ohio - A group opposing Dover’s elementary school reconfiguration says they’re prepared to present an alternative plan. 

Dover Supporting Excellence organizer Jenna Pilcher says the group has developed a plan that would offer the same cost savings as the reconfiguration plan without adversely impacting district students.

“We’ve prepared a viable solution with a lot of input from people within the community. We have several CPAs in our group, we have a financial analyst, we have attorneys, we have scholars, professors. We’ve gotten input from everyone, and we’ve really tried to crunch the numbers and come up with a viable alternative that does not involve grade leveling,” she says.

Pilcher says they’ve revised their original proposal after reviewing public records provided by the school district, and they will be submitting the updated plan to the board of education. She says the group is also asking the board to convene a special committee to assess both plans and seek out additional potential solutions.

“That would be our choice is that they would appoint within people from our group outside community members [to a] task force that would work with administration and the board to come up with a compromise solution rather than debating two alternatives in the public format. I don’t think that that does anybody good in this situation. If we could come to that agreement, I think it would work well for everyone,” she says. 

Board President Steve Mastin said the board is willing to consider the revised plan but noted that time is of the essence.

“We prepared to move forward immediately, and we need to have your plan in hand so we can consider all the options before we move forward,” he said.

Mastin said the board needs the updated plan in hand by this Wednesday. He said they are not prepared to comment on the group’s request to convene a task force until they’ve had a chance to assess the proposal. 

Pilcher thanked the board for their willingness to keep the lines of communication open and said the group would have the plan to them prior to Wednesday’s deadline.

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV