Tour of school approved
CONNELLSVILLE – Plaintiff and defendant representatives in an ongoing Connellsville Area School District civil suit have agreed to jointly inspect an elementary building being readied for students in the fall. At the same time, the plaintiffs have withdrawn the request for the district to halt a renovation project to upgrade the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center.
Connellsville attorney Richard E. Bower, who along with local attorney Mark Brooks is representing a group of nearly 40 parents, confirmed Tuesday that the two sides will tour the Zachariah Connell Elementary School today in an attempt to determine its safety as the school district prepares rooms for students being transferred from South Side Elementary School.
The relocation of students along with the reconfiguration of grade levels approved by the district school board last month is the basis for the civil suit filed May 23 by the parent coalition.
The school district, along with board members Francis Mongell, Karen Blocker, Jeffrey Harvey, Loretta Lint, Denise Martin and James Fabian have been named in the court documents as defendants in the case.
Directors Ed Zadylak, Jon Detwiler and Kevin Lape are not named in the suit.
The parent group has asked the court to halt the district approved closure of Dunbar Borough, South Side and Connellsville Township elementary schools and reverse the board decision that would reconfigure grade levels.
The reconfiguration would create an elementary program of kindergarten through grade four, intermediate program of grade five through eight and a senior high school program of grade nine through 12.
In the original lawsuit, the coalition requested that the district not be permitted to move forward with a $15 million renovation and new construction project at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center.
However, in an amended complaint filed with the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas on Monday, Bower removed all notations tied to the request that the project be halted, but did not give an explanation for the changes.
He could not be reached Tuesday afternoon for comment about the revised lawsuit.
In the May 23 court document, Bower indicated that an alternate plan be considered by the board.
“(The school district) plans on upgrading (the career center) that sits on pyrite and expend an estimated $15 million on that construction when a more feasible alternative has been put forth to cost $7 million,” states the May 23 court document. “(The alternative plan) would put that money into the senior high school and integrate all 10th- to 12th-grade students into the senior high school level where students could take both academic classes and vocational-technical classes.”
Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Judge Ralph C. Warman has scheduled a June 19 hearing to resolve the school closures, grade realignment and technical center renovation issues.
The two sides, meanwhile, agreed to the joint inspection of the Zachariah Connell building where basement storage areas are being converted into classrooms.
In his request to enter the buildings, Bower stated that the location does not comply with safety regulations.
“The basement classrooms will not have any windows and only one exit from each room,” he said in court documents. “The classrooms in the basement are a hazard to the students and teachers in that in the event of a fire or any type of emergency, the students and teachers only have one way out of the classrooms, thus creating a hazardous situation for anyone utilizing the basement classrooms.”
Bower has indicated someone knowledgeable of federal, state, and local building and construction codes, a fire inspector and a photographer would accompany him on the tour.
Attorney Carl Beard, who along with school district solicitor Linda Cordaro, is representing the district and six board members in the matter. Beard said that the rooms in question are undergoing some upgrades to accommodate the students.
“The classrooms will be appropriate and safe for those using them,” he said
It is unclear if the plaintiffs will inspect other buildings that will see additional students in the fall.
South Side Elementary School students are to be transferred to Zachariah Connell while Connellsville Township students are to be added into the Bullskin Township Elementary School and Dunbar Borough students to Dunbar Township Elementary School.