Crumbling school building causes staff to move
CONNELLSVILLE – The crumbling interior and exterior walls of the school district’s administration building along with other maintenance and heating woes has prompted the board to expedite its plans to relocate the staff housed at the site. Connellsville Area School District board members Wednesday authorized the administration to make plans to move its office personnel from the Crawford Building to the former warehouse located on Stadium Road and adjacent to Junior High West.
“It isn’t the ideal location, but it is certainly an ideal building,” said district superintendent James Duncan of the move.
For several months the board and administration have discussed alternate sites for relocating the 25 district employees and seven Intermediate Unit 1 staff, including to the senior high school or North Fayette Vocational-Education School, but had not taken action in the matter.
The Crawford Building, located on 7th Street, initially was used as an elementary school and then as the central administrative office. In addition to the superintendent, the business manager, federal programs, food service, athletics, transportation, security, special education and Intermediate Unit 1 administrators and their support staff are housed in the building.
The Stadium Road facility was built nearly five years ago and initially used for classrooms for students displaced during the reconstruction of Junior High West. More recently it has been used to store and distribute large shipments of equipment and supplies for the various district facilities.
“We have a perfectly, well-built facility that is virtually empty,” said Duncan. “We need to move the administrative offices. I would never recommend the building a new facility when we have the warehouse.”
The site, he added, would need “some work” including the partitioning of the large open space that now exists for offices and conference rooms, installation of carpeting and air conditioning.
The building will continue be the delivery location for large amounts of supplies and equipment, but will then be stored at an adjacent district property.
While the resolution approved the costs of the upgrading be paid through the construction fund, Duncan said he hopes the sale of the Crawford Building will generate the needed funding.
“It is a good location,” he said, pointing to the direct access to Route 119 and the city’s main throughways. “With the strip mall development (at the Route 119/201 intersection) and Wal-Mart, I think it would make a good location for another business.”
The property has yet to be appraised, but Duncan speculates it could bring in as much as $300,000.
The relocation is expected to take place early next year with a “For Sale” sign to be simultaneously posted at the Crawford Building.
Duncan said that there have been some inquiries about the building, but no formal offers.
“I don’t think we’ll have any problems selling it,” he said.