A.G. board looks into renovations at elementary school
With the rebuilding of Albert Gallatin North Middle School nearing completion, the school board may address A.L. Wilson Elementary School next. The board Wednesday voted to authorize project manager Fairchance Construction Co. to assist in evaluating options for the A.L. Wilson building, located in Fairchance, which Superintendent Walter Vicinelly said has never been renovated.
Fairchance Construction offered to do this review at no cost to the district.
“With A.L. Wilson’s enrollment going up, we have to look at our options. Fairchance Construction has been construction manager for our building projects and offered to advise us on what our options are. We’re gathering information at this point,” Vicinelly said afterward.
He said the school has 178 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, while the typical enrollment for a number of years was around 130 to 140 students.
During a work session before the regular business meeting, Vicinelly said the issue came up at a Feb. 12 buildings and grounds committee meeting.
Sam Denney of Fairchance Construction said the A.G. North school, located in McClellandtown, will be completed in time for the start of the next school year, even though the bad winter weather has caused delays. He said some roofing and exterior work was halted because of the weather, but the work has continued indoors.
Also regarding buildings, Greg Lofstead of Masontown told the school board during the work session that he represents a group interested in purchasing the former Masontown school building for business interests he said he could not discuss at this time.
The former Masontown school has been used temporarily to house the A.G. North students this year and last school year during renovations at A.G. North.
Solicitor Lee Price said the school board could sell the former Masontown school by auction, receive sealed bids or negotiate a private sale, but Fayette County Court would have to approve a private sale. He said a public hearing would be held before any sale of school property.
Vicinelly noted another party expressed interest in the building, referring to the Power Plant youth community center in Masontown. He said the school board has yet to decide the eventual use of the building and cannot take any action as long as students are using the building.
Among a variety of other agenda items, the school board revised the calendar for the rest of the 2002-2003 school year.
They set the new graduation date and last day of classes for students as Wednesday, June 4. They also scheduled Thursday, June 5, as a clerical day.
May 29 was the original final day of classes, but the school district had four snow days off.
Vicinelly said the district will have to revise the calendar again if school officials have to cancel any more days of classes. He said the district had 11 two-hour delays this school year and another two-hour delay tentatively was scheduled for today.
Further, the school board approved the purchase of a commercial van from low bidder Day Fleet Sales, at a cost of $17,628.
They discussed buying or leasing a trailer, van or box truck to haul band uniforms and equipment, saying they need more information on their options.
The board gave Vicinelly permission to execute an agreement with Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 that would enroll A.G. in the Comprehensive Data Analysis for School Improvement program, at a cost of $4 per student.
Vicinelly said the district has a commitment of $5,000 from the community/business organization Reaching Educational Achievement with Community Help (REACH) and other grant money available that could go toward the cost of the program. He said the program would track students’ test scores, demographics and other data to help identify strengths and weaknesses of the district’s curriculum.
The board approved the district’s $20,645.55 share of the Intermediate Unit I general fund budget for the 2002-2003 school year. That amount represents no increase over the last year.
Controller Denise Sheetz announced a windfall from the IU 1. She said the school district is set to receive a $376,370.30 rebate from the IU 1 health insurance consortium. Board President John Gruskowski said the rebate “means a great deal to the district.”