Board advances building project
Uniontown Area School Board appears to be moving ahead with the $35 million high school renovation project despite public opposition. At Monday’s board meeting, the majority of school directors voted down a motion that would have halted the project.
School director Kenneth G. Meadows made the motion, asking that the project be put on hold until four new board members, who have said they are against the project, take their seats at the reorganization meeting in December.
Meadows and challengers Vincent Winfrey, Paul H. Bortz Sr., Alan George and Philip Holt secured both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the May 15th primary election and are virtually guaranteed a victory in November, having no opposition to the five available seats.
All five have spoken out against spending $35 million to renovate the high school, while three incumbents who lost in the primary election supported the project.
On the losing side were current school board President Susan S. Clay and school directors Tammy J. Boyle and Charles C. Castor.
The project, originally set to cost about $44 million, was recently scaled back to $34.8 million.
Meadow’s motion to halt the project was not on Monday’s agenda, taking several school directors by surprise. School director William Rittenhouse Jr. seconded the motion, which was voted down five to three.
School directors Meadows, Rittenhouse and Lloyd A. Williams voted to put the project on hold, while Clay, Castor, Harry “Dutch” Kaufman, Nancy L. Herring and Dorothy J. Grahek voted against it.
Herring, who is not seeking re-election, said she wants to see the project go forward.
Boyle passed on the motion, but said she’d hate to see the $3 million the school district has already spent on the project wasted. Boyle suggested current board members sit down with those who were recently elected to see if something can be worked out so the project can move forward.
“I’m extending the invitation,” she said. “I’d just hate to see the $3 million spent thus far be lost if we can work out some kind of compromise.”
For example, Boyle said all current school directors, including those who are against the entire $35 million to renovate the high school, agree that more classrooms need to be built.
In addition, Boyle said in 2006 the school board, which at that time included former school board President Ronald Machesky, agreed during a discussion to move forward with the project if the cost was brought to $35 million. Castor was not on the board when the alleged discussion took place.
“The consensus of the school board was, if we got it to $34.8 million, we’d move forward,” she said. “There were nine of us that agreed, all of us agreed.”
Following Monday’s meeting, Kaufman said he, too, remembers the discussion and said the school board had unanimously agreed to move forward with the high school renovation project if costs came in under $35 million.
The Rev. Peter Malik, vice chairman of the citizens’ advisory committee that opposes spending the entire $35 to renovate the high school, lambasted school board members who voted against Meadow’s motion. Ronald Machesky currently serves as chairman of the committee.
Malik and several other residents wore T-shirts to the meeting with the words “The People Have Spoken” printed on them.
“I think it would be a very good thing to put this project on hold. The current school board members have seen the referendum by the people,” he said. “The people have spoken. Please listen to them.”
Several other residents spoke out against the project Monday.
Rittenhouse, who opposes the current $35 million high school project, said the new board will halt the project in December and said the current board is wasting money on the project if they continue to move forward with it.
“At the organization meeting in December the project is going to be cancelled and that’s something everybody needs to keep in mind,” he said.