Dayton-area community groups have started using Change.org, an online petition tool used by activists around the world, to help influence policy in the region.

Parents in West Carrollton pulled their petition off the Change.org site in February after the school board abandoned plans to cut staff and some fall sports and limit busing before voters cast ballots on a November levy.

“It definitely helped us,” said Jon Lewallen, a founder of Pirate Kids Matter, formed in opposition to the proposed cuts. “There were people who signed it who aren’t even a part of our group.”

And last week in Springboro, the school board was targeted in a second petition urging a policy change. In two days, the initiative, which urged renewal of membership in the Ohio School Boards Association, counted 30 supporters.

West Carrollton Superintendent Rusty Clifford said the Change.org petition drive had no effect on his school board’s decision on the proposed cuts. Instead he attributed the change to the board’s reassessment of the state of public education in Ohio. Still he acknowledged Change.org’s power.

In February, Clifford and district Treasurer Ryan Slone attended a Pirate Kids Matter meeting.

Lewallen, leader of the parents group, credited the petition — and the group’s Facebook page — with leveraging its influence in the community and with the board.

“Without the Internet it would be so much more difficult,” Lewallen said.

Launched in February 2007, Change.org hosts about 10,000 new petitions a month all over the world, a company spokesman said.

Last November, Bank of America canceled plans for a $5 debit card fee after opposition including a Change.org petition with 306,894 supporters.

Last fall in Ohio, 108,000 emails from a Change.org petition drive, urging stricter laws on exotic animal ownership, flooded state offices.

“I think it’s very powerful,” Springboro Board President Scott Anderson said after a petition was started in February discouraging the board from ending ChannelOne TV newscasts at school. “You can’t ignore it.”

Anderson was less complimentary last week after duplicate messages were sent to three of his email addresses every time someone “signed” the ChannelOne petition.

“We’re getting spammed big time,” Anderson said. “I think it can be powerful if it’s harnessed in the right way.”

Last week, a user named Concerned Boro started the Springboro online petition regarding the state school board association membership. The new petition had 25 supporters the first day.

Board discussion of the association membership and the ChannelOne contract was started by board member Kelly Kohls, president of the Warren County Tea Party. While just learning about Change.org, Kohls is familiar with the power of social media to influence change. She said she began using social media during her candidacy. Kohls also uses social media in developing the local Tea Party network.

She acknowledged the Change.org petitions as a tool being used by her opponents.

“I would expect that,” Kohls said. “It’s just one more voice.”

Other activists in Dayton and Tipp City have used the Change.org site to set up ongoing, online petitions leveraging their influence and growing their support network.

A Change.org petition established by the Brite Signal Alliance urging Sinclair Community College in Dayton to establish a “Safe Space for their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students” tallied 400 supporters.

Another petition hosted at Change.org calls for creation of a new skate park in Tipp City, a long-standing issue in this Miami County city. The petition started by resident Cody Rowland counted more than 120 supporters.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.