Groups would like to use Central School
The Uniontown Area School Board Monday heard from two local preservationists interested in utilizing Uniontown’s Central School as an art history center if district administrative offices were to vacate the building. Patrick Daugherty and Charmaine Sampson approached the school board as representatives of the yet-to-be-formed Ella Peach Preservation Society with the idea at the regular board meeting.
Sampson, an administrative assistant in the office of Fayette County Commissioner Joe Hardy, said citizens have approached her with the plea to not allow the district to tear down the historical building.
During a slideshow presentation, Daugherty, a local art instructor, said the school was built in 1916 in collegiate Gothic-style designed by architect Andrew P. Cooper, who he said was the top architect in the area at the time.
Daugherty said the “beautifully constructed” school was built with an attention to detail and noted it houses many small treasures – such as a glazed clock, colored tile and a waterfall sculpture – that are original elements of the building.
“Nothing has been vandalized or damaged, like you might find in an old school,” Daugherty said. “It’s a blank slate. It has so much potential.”
Daugherty noted the school is located on one of the main thoroughfares through Uniontown, giving it the potential to attract the eyes of visitors headed west. It also is blocks from the State Theatre Center for the Arts, which lends it as an ideal location for a cultural center, he added.
“People have talked about needing some kind of an art center for 30 years,” Daugherty said. “Now that Uniontown’s making a comeback, what better time than now?
“I think it would be a tremendous advertisement for our community,” he added.
Daugherty noted the building is in great shape, noting that the school district repaired a leaky roof, preventing damage to classrooms with wooden floors. He said the school’s lowest level houses a large room with a stage and, showing a picture of Redstone High School, which is being demolished, said he does not want to see it turned to rubble.
He also spoke of incorporating a local history museum and a visitors center into future plans for the building.
Sampson said the school stands in the hearts of a lot of people who attended it as a child. She added that the society has plans to seek nonprofit status to raise funds for its renovation.
“We know it may take several million to bring this building up to where we would like it to be,” Sampson told the board. “We want to know if it’s something you think is feasible. We don’t want it to fade away. It has a lot of history and could be a part of our cultural center downtown.
“It’s our dream and we hope it’s not a pipe dream,” she added.
Some school directors expressed their agreement with the project.
“I think it’s very doable,” said school Director Susan Clay.
District solicitor Michael Brungo noted some legal details, mostly pertaining to the transfer of property that he would look into.
The school board has not taken any official action to vacate Central School. School Board President Ron Machesky said before the board can do that, they first must figure out the direction they will take the high school renovation/construction project.
Machesky said it could be a year or two before the board makes a final decision on what to do with Central School.
“Central School will be there until then,” he said.
In other business, the board suspended the August and September payments totaling $28,838 from Altman & Altman Architects after Machesky questioned the monthly bills.
Mark Altman of the Uniontown architectural firm said the bills are for work done on the high school project from the end of July through early August, but he did not have a breakdown of billed services with him. He agreed to supply that information at a special meeting scheduled for Sept. 27.
Machesky said he was provided information on the number of hours billed – 246 hours in August and 137 1/2 in September – but he needed to see what the hours were spent doing. Machesky also questioned the district being billed the hourly rate of $51.50 for clerical help. He said the rate was $41.50 on prior bills. Altman agreed to look into this as well.
“I recommend we don’t pay for anything other than what we authorized the architect to do,” he said.
Director William Rittenhouse Jr. asked Altman to bring this type of information with him from now on to satisfy questions from board members.
“We’re not impugning what you’re doing. We just need documentation on what you’re working on. This is a good bit of money,” said Rittenhouse, chair of the district’s finance/personnel committee.
The board also scheduled a special meeting for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Central School, where the board and representatives of the Citizens Advisory Committee formed to examine the high school project will hear from Altman about two $34.8 million plans that his firm designed for the high school project.
School Director Lloyd A. Williams, chair of the district’s capital projects committee, said no actual drawings have been prepared.
Altman said four plans were designed – two for $34.8 million, and another two as “other options.” Machesky said the other two plans were over $34.8 million.
In other business, the board granted Robert D. Caldwell a sabbatical leave for the second semester of the school year for restoration of health, and added Garret Daly of Uniontown to the substitute custodial/maintenance list at $5.50 per hour and to the cleaning personnel list at $5.15 per hour.
The board also entered into executive session for personnel and confidential student matters, and afterwards voted to adjudicate a student.
School directors Kenneth Meadows and Harry “Dutch” Kaufman were absent from Monday evening’s meeting.