Board OKs ‘kindergarten compound’ for city students
The Uniontown Area School District voted unanimously Monday to move forward with plans to convert the district’s Iowa Street property into a “kindergarten compound” for city kindergarten students. At a meeting last week, the school board discussed using about $85,000 from a state accountability block grant to construct classrooms at the Iowa Street building to house all kindergarten students that now attend Benjamin Franklin and Lafayette schools.
The directors Monday signed off on rough specifications provided by district architect Mark Altman that will convert the office building into an all-day temporary facility for minimal cost from the $415,000 grant, which was distributed for the district to convert to all-day kindergarten classes.
The funds were earmarked for additional classroom space at the two schools to accommodate the growing kindergarten classes.
According to Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky, about 120 students are expected to enroll in kindergarten classes next year, and the schools do not have the room to accommodate them
“The project itself will consist of six classes with seven teachers,” Machesky said. “If we didn’t do it this way, we would have trailers all over God’s creation.”
Machesky said that transportation and food service will bring nominal additional costs to the district. He said food will be transported from the high school to the new kindergarten facility and that a security guard will also be stationed at the school.
Altman said the project will be done for a small cost, but he could not say that the $85,000 will cover the building conversion to classrooms
Altman said that some flooring needs replaced after it was damaged during the major flooding across the district last November and that a fire alarm system is also a necessity. He said that while the district held off renovating the building for new administration headquarters until solutions to future flooding were addressed, he said it will not affect the kindergarten facility.
“We will use flood proofing materials for some of the construction and the district will not be keeping numerous files at the school and only a minimal number of computers,” Altman said.
He said that the project will be put out for bid in the next few weeks and that construction and renovation could begin as early as mid-June. He said the project will be completed before classes begin in August.
In another matter, the board heard from Markleysburg resident Betty Detrick about problems she alleges her 6-year-old son, Joey, has experienced this year at Marclay Elementary School.
Detrick said her son was sent home instead of daycare at the beginning of the school year, he was bullied and received several large bruises as a result and minimal action was taken and Detrick said her son was struck in the head by a falling easel. She alleged that his teacher deemed his head uninjured and sent the child home before contacting Detrick about the incident.
“We went to the emergency room and he was found to have a mild concussion,” Detrick said. “I don’t feel safe sending my child into that school.”
She also told the board that mountain school principal Ed Fearer did little to assuage her concerns and treated the incident without much concern for her son’s welfare.
Fearer responded to Detrick’s comments and said he apologized for the mishap in transportation at the beginning of the school year and that the bullying was addressed, noting that Joey and the child who bullied him are now friends.
Fearer defended his staff and teachers at Marclay.
“The easel was removed from the room,” Fearer said. “The teacher examined him and checked for bruises, bumps and blood and didn’t see any.”
In other business, the board passed a $34,307,657 tentative budget that could cause an increase in school taxes next year if the school board fails to trim a deficit of nearly $1 million in the tentative budget for the 2004-2005 school year.
At their monthly work session last week, business manager Floyd Geho presented the board with a checklist of items that will reduce the current deficit of $1,998,435 to $846,235, but he told the directors that a tax increase of more than 1 mill should be included in the regular budget, scheduled for a vote in June.
He also recommended a 1.14-mill tax increase to generate the funds necessary to balance the budget. The district’s tax rate stands at 11.77 mils, which costs taxpayers $117.70 for every $10,000 in assessed value.
Last year, the district increased the tax rate by a half-mill to balance this year’s budget. Each mill generates about $745,000 in revenue for the district.
Geho said the tentative financial plan represents a 6.49-percent increase from the current year’s budget, with the district needing about $2.2 million in additional funds.
The financial plan includes $18,928,256 for instruction, $12,025,853 for support services, $546,718 for non-instructional support services and $2,806,830 for additional services.