Teachers at Lakota West say the freshman campus has had mold so severe that students were barred from the basement.

Bee infestations and cockroaches plagued the lower level, two teachers told The West Press, the school's student newspaper, in a Sept. 24 report by student journalist Roc Owens. The accounts come as Lakota voters prepare to decide a $223 million bond issue on Nov. 3 that would close the freshman building and end the district's split-campus model.

The two teachers spoke on condition of anonymity. One, identified only as Teacher X, had spent more than three years at the main campus after being reassigned from the freshman building. The other, Teacher Y, splits time between both buildings each day.

"No kids were even allowed [in the basement] because of the mold … that was so bad," Teacher X told The West Press. "And then [another teacher's] room always had like a bee infestation, and there were cockroaches everywhere, but that seemed to be the lower level."

The district has not publicly responded to those claims. Superintendent Ashley Whitely acknowledged the building's condition in October 2025, when the district opened the freshman campus for public tours ahead of a previous bond vote. Whitely said at the time that the maintenance team works to keep the building safe but that a building like the freshman campus requires extra upkeep, as WCPO reported.

Teacher Y described a different problem with the split-campus arrangement: losing time with students. Because Teacher Y commutes between buildings during the school day, non-class time at the freshman campus is limited.

"I do not get to spend a lot of non class time at Freshman so I do not get to know the students as well as I do at Main," Teacher Y told the student paper.

Teacher Y's account aligns with a problem the district has identified in its own planning documents. Lakota's Master Facilities Plan, presented at an April 13 special board meeting, said freshmen can feel isolated in a standalone building and noted that fewer teachers traveling between campuses would keep more instructional time in the classroom, according to the district's facilities page.

The bond on the Nov. 3 ballot would fund phase one of that plan. If voters approve the 2.2-mill levy, the West Freshman building would close and ninth-graders would join grades 10 through 12 at the main campus. Lakota serves about 17,000 students across 21 buildings. The total phase-one cost is $300 million. The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission would cover $77 million, leaving $223 million to local taxpayers through a bond that replaces an expiring 2.23-mill levy in 2028, according to the district.

Board member Benjamin Nguyen, a former West Freshman Campus student, said in July that the building's problems are real but manageable for now. "It's not going to fall down on students tomorrow, but just long-term maintenance," Nguyen told WCPO.

The Lakota Board of Education unanimously approved placing the bond on the ballot at its June 9 meeting. Voters in West Chester and Liberty townships decide Nov. 3 whether to fund the plan that would take the freshman building offline.