Work on district office updated
CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – The chalkboards have been removed and small desks and chairs sit in the hallway, as a section of Connellsville Township Elementary School transitions to the Connellsville Area School District administration office. “It’s coming along,” said James Duncan, district superintendent, as he surveyed the progress being made by the maintenance workers.
Six rooms in a rear wing of the Rockridge Road elementary school are being transformed from the traditional classroom to offices that will be utilized by Duncan; Karen Marko, human resource director; Eugene Cunningham, business manager; Mike Omatick, building and grounds supervisor; Charles Matthews, security director; James Lembo, transportation and athletic director; Gloria Clawson, food service director; Bob McLuckey, secondary curriculum director; and Bill Wilson, federal programs and elementary curriculum director, along with their staffs and several special education supervisors.
The move from the Crawford Building has been a topic of discussion by the school board for several years with members weighing the options of constructing a new administrative building to relocating to an empty warehouse – also owned by the district – located near Junior High West.
The warehouse appeared to be the preferred choice of the current board of directors, until it was learned it would cost nearly $1 million to have it upgraded to meet the needs of the administrative personnel.
“We just couldn’t afford it,” said Ed Zadylak, board member and chairman of the district finance committee, of the price tag to refit the warehouse. “(The Connellsville Township) elementary school was our best deal.”
According to the latest feasibility study, the one-story school facility constructed in 1974 is “in excellent condition considering its age.”
The student population for kindergarten through sixth grade is approximately 160 with one class for each grade level.
Duncan said that a gifted class and two of three special education classes formerly held at the elementary school will be transferred to other locations beginning in the fall.
“These were students that were bussed here from other schools for these classes,” he said. “No Connellsville Township student will be displaced because of this move.”
The rooms, including the former library, are currently undergoing a transformation, including the addition of partitions, doorways and electrical, computer and telephone upgrades to accommodate the new offices.
Much of the space, said Duncan, will be utilized for district record storage.
“We are required to keep school records for 100 years,” he said. “That adds up to a lot of paperwork.”
The school library was relocated to another location within the building.
“(The room) is a little smaller, but it will meet the needs of the students,” explained Duncan.
Zadylak, meanwhile, speculates that the cost for the upgrade work will be offset by the annual maintenance cost of the Crawford Building.
“To make improvements to the Crawford Building would be too expensive,” he said. “The (heating system) can go at anytime and there is a bucket on the second floor catching water. We had to do something.”
The board expects to put the facility on the market before the end of the year.
The building sits on a .44-acre tract while an additional .45-acre parcel located on the opposite side of North 7th Street, serves as a parking lot. An appraisal completed last year estimated the value of the building and property at $108,000.
Duncan, meanwhile, said he is looking forward to the move.
“This is going to be a much better location,” he commented.