Uniontown board reconfigures grades for Benjamin Franklin, Lafayette schools
The Uniontown Area School Board approved grade reconfigurations for the Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin schools Monday night, while also hiring a company to complete an appraisal of one of the two school buildings that will close at the end of the year.
Under the grade reconfiguration, Lafayette, which currently houses kindergarten through eighth grades, will become K-5. Benjamin Franklin, which had also been K-8, will change to sixth through eighth grades, becoming the district’s sole middle school.
Last month, the board voted to close Marclay Middle School in Markleysburg at the end of the school year, as well as Franklin Elementary School in Vanderbilt.
Superintendent Daniel Bosnic said the board had discussed options for Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin, including items like classroom expansion and athletic/extracurricular space, at a work session in April. He doesn’t foresee the new structure causing issues, he said.
“I believe this is the best path for the district at this time,” he said.
Board member Chris Gearing, who had originally proposed using one school for sixth through eighth grades, said he favored using Ben Franklin as the middle school, since it was the older of the two buildings and the one with the least amount of remodeling done to it.
“If we had to close another building due to a drop in enrollment, Ben Franklin would be the better choice to close,” he said.
The reconfiguration passed 5-3, with Don Rugola, Kenneth Meadows and William Rittenhouse voting against.
With the closures and reconfigurations, Uniontown will now operate three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.
According to material provided by the district, all elementary students living within Uniontown will go to Lafayette. Menallen Elementary School will take students from Franklin and Menallen townships. The remaining students — those from Henry Clay, Stewart and Wharton townships and the boroughs of Markleysburg and Ohiopyle — will attend Wharton Elementary School.
By a 6-2 vote, with Rugola and Gearing in opposition, the board also recommended approval for Valbridge Property Advisors to complete an appraisal of Marclay.
Gearing had also asked for the motion on appraisal to be tabled, which was voted down 6-2.
Valbridge will charge a professional fee of $2,800, plus a retainer fee of $1,400, Business Manager Melissa Schell told the board. Further business inspections are $300 per hour.
The appraisal for Franklin Elementary School cost about $6,000, Schell said.