South-Western school board members on Nov. 4 unanimously approved contracts for 43 winter sports coaches.

Board members approved boys and girls basketball coaching positions for four of the five middle schools in the district and all four high schools. No coaches were approved for Pleasant View Middle.

The legislation included wrestling coaching positions for Finland Middle, as well as Franklin Heights, Grove City and Westland high schools.

It also included a drill team coach for Franklin Heights High, a swimming coach for Grove City High and gymnastics coaches for both Grove City and Westland high schools.

The new coaches will cost the district $200,000 total, said treasurer Hugh Garside.

"This is such a great day," said board member Mindy Garverick. "To unite the divisions the way that you (voters) have is just incredible."

Board member Amy Baker said district officials now "owe it to the community" to fulfill their promises made in July in a so-called contract with the community.

"And they will," added board president Cathy Johnson. "This board has promised that this levy will last four years."

Superintendent Bill Wise said the tenets of the contract involve improved communication, a minimum "effective" district report card rating from the Ohio Department of Education, increased operational efficiencies and stretching new levy dollars to 2013.

Garside said he will have to make $15-million in budget cuts over the next four years to make the levy last. Those cuts will involve recommendations from the community advisory group, a state performance audit and negotiations with union representatives, he added.

"We'll continue to be more efficient, more lean," he said. "We also know that the community is concerned, and we want to be respectful of that concern."

Performance audit results are scheduled to be released in January, Garside said.

According to unofficial results from the Franklin County Board of Elections, Issue 47 passed by 413 votes. "Yes" votes totaled 19,591, or 50.53 percent, while "no" votes totaled 19,178, 49.47 percent. The results include one precinct in Pickaway County.

Provisional ballots have yet to be counted, but when a levy was defeated in August, South-Western schools received an additional 107 "yes" votes after provisional votes were totaled.

Issue 47, a 7.4-mill continuous operating levy, will add $227 annually to every $100,000 of assessed property value. It will generate $18.5-million in school district revenue each year, starting 2010.

Board members also approved Nov. 4 temporary employment of four administrators and the resignation of one custodian.

Wise said the temporary administrative positions were created to cover full-time administrators on various medical leaves.

"The one thing that I've heard more than anything is that people were pleased that (school board members) were so quick to respond," said Jill Billman-Royer, a co-chairperson with pro-levy group Citizens for South-Western City Schools.

Billman-Royer added she also heard residents discussing the timeline for the restoration of busing services.

"Our goal is to have transportation reinstated by Nov. 30," said district spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff. "We do have a process to follow, and we want to make sure we do it right."

Nekoloff said the process involves rescheduling busing routes from last school year to this one.

Once the routes have been rescheduled, district officials will have to work with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 211, the classified staff union, to create new contracts for bus drivers needed to drive the added routes, Nekoloff said.

Still, praise for the district administration's haste in restoring extracurricular activities has been the "overwhelming" sentiment, Billman-Royer said.