Board seeks approval of building plan
CONNELLSVILLE – The Connellsville Area School District will seek state approval for the next phase of its elementary school construction plan. By a 5-4 vote, the board of directors Wednesday approved the submission of a fifth PlanCon document to the state Department of Education.
Board members Kevin Lape, Charles Wilson, Chip Nicholson, Ann Watson and David Goldblum authorized the submission of the district strategic and special education plans for the new Springfield Township Elementary School, while members Francis Mongell, Karen Blocker, Jeffrey Harvey and Loretta Lint cast dissenting votes.
“I am not against a new school. There is no doubt they need one,” Harvey said after the meeting. “I just think it’s too large for the projected student enrollment, and the price tag is out of line.”
The board last year agreed to replace the current mountain-area school after the nearly 60-year-old building was rated to be in fair to poor condition in a feasibility study.
However, since presented with design plans proposing an 83,000-square-foot building and a $12.5 million cost, Harvey, Mongell, Blocker and Lint have continued to vote against the project.
Pointing to impending renovations at the district’s other elementary schools and high school, Mongell said the board must be more prudent in its spending.
“We anticipate costs of $40 million to renovate the remaining elementary schools and another $28 to $30 million for the high school and (North Fayette Vocational-Technical School),” he said. “(The $12.5 million) is way out of our range.”
Lint, too, agreed there is a need for a new school, but said the 10,000-square-foot gymnasium/multi purpose room is extravagant as is several planned extracurricular rooms.
“A building does not teach,” she said. “Let’s put the money into the technology education and other educational tools that can be utilized by the teachers.”
In a related matter, the vote was similarly split in a proposal to retain P.J. Dick Inc. to update the 2000 district-wide feasibility study, in compliance with the state Department of Education.
According to district superintendent Gerald Browell, the construction management firm will review each of the district’s buildings, detail the present condition of each of the sites and determine future renovations or construction.
The board also conducted the following business:
– Hired Robert J. Renzi as senior high girls basketball coach; Dana Ross, senior high assistant basketball coach; Thomas D. Dolde, senior high head wrestling coach; Eric Witt, Junior High West assistant football coach; Joseph Ross Jr., Junior High West assistant wrestling coach; Kevin Harrison, Junior High East head football coach; Brian Shipley, Junior High East girls head basketball coach; and Eric Painter, Junior High East head coach.
– Named Barbara Cartwright as Junior High East cheerleader coach.
– Agreed to contribute $7,000 annually to the Connellsville Area Hockey Club.
– Hired Anissa Stafford, Julie Brothers, Edward Guie, Teresa Pessamato and Laura Nudo as elementary teachers, Alta Dezort as a math teacher and Melissa Barkley as an English teacher.