Uniontown School Board discusses building renovation plans
Uniontown Area School Board is about to move on to the second phase of a multimillion-dollar plan to revamp all the district’s buildings while questions remain on what may become of Marclay School. At a Tuesday night committee meeting, the directors considered two options for a new Marclay School.
One option was to rebuild on the existing site and then demolish the old building. The other was to build the school next to A.J. McMullen School and somehow link the two buildings.
Brian Frazee of Markleysburg, who attended the meeting with four others, said the school board would not get much community support for the second option.
“We represent more than ourselves,” Frazee said. “There is a lot of people interested in keeping that school where it is.”
The school board originally had listed a new or renovated Marclay School among the first phase projects, but Wharton School was moved up on the list of projects for the sake of planning renovations and additions there in conjunction with Franklin School because the buildings resemble each other.
Recapping the first phase of the building projects, John P. McShane of investment banker Arthurs Lestrange & Co. explained the district went through a financing plan in recent years of bond issues and interest earnings worth about $11.2 million for renovations and additions to Franklin and Wharton schools, improvements to the sports stadium and replacement of the central administration building.
Considering the stadium work is unfinished and there has been no final decision on the central offices, he said about $3 million is left unallocated in the first phase.
Regarding the second phase, McShane said the district would need to finance about $26.6 million for Menallen, A.J. McMullen and Marclay schools, along with the high school.
He said the payback on the financing would require about 4 mills in tax revenue that could also be phased in.
McShane, who noted interest rates on the market are favorable for borrowing, also talked about the length of the debt service. Board members said they want to go no longer than 20 years, in keeping with the effective life of building renovations.
The cost estimates were listed at about $7 million for Menallen, about $6.5 million for A.J. McMullen, about $4 million for Marclay and about $9 million for the high school, although Mark Altman of Altman & Altman Architects noted the figures are only estimates.
President Harry “Dutch” Kaufman said the board has made a commitment to the district’s students and residents to continue the building projects, although no votes could come at the committee meeting.
“I think we move on,” Kaufman said of the second phase. “Some board members are not here, but I think we have support.”
Directors Tammy Boyle, Nancy Herring and Ken Meadows were absent.
Those present discussed Marclay School at length.
“Let’s put Marclay on the fast track,” said director Ronald Machesky.
Director William Rittenhouse Jr. said Marclay is “next on the list.”
“I’m concerned about health and safety. I’d like to see Marclay move right away,” said director Charles Castor.
Director Dorothy Grahek, who heads the school board’s buildings and grounds committee, said it seems the school is beyond renovations and will be rebuilt.
The question is where.
Director Susan Clay stressed she wants the school to remain at its existing location.
Rittenhouse said he would like to see cost estimates on both options.
On the option of building a new Marclay School to continue housing kindergarten to fifth grades next to A.J. McMullen, where students in sixth through eighth grades are housed, board members discussed keeping the students separate but linking the two buildings and making use of shared facilities at different times.
They talked about underused space at A.J. McMullen. Buildings and grounds director Rob Smalley said there is 262 square feet of space per student at the A.J. McMullen building, where 202 students are enrolled. He said the target is 91 square feet. Altman said all of the space is used at the A.J. McMullen building but not all the time.
Frazee said after the meeting that he is still getting names on a petition to keep Marclay School where it is and has a couple hundred names so far.
Lori Frazee, who noted she and Brian Frazee are Markleysburg Borough council members, said she has collected 450 response cards from more than 900 letters sent out through Markleysburg and Henry Clay Township.
“We had one negative response. Everyone wants the school to stay in the community,” she said. “We did the mailing to find out if there was interest. There are people interested.”