SOUTHERN SCHOOLS Start of building delayed

A summer groundbreaking is set, with completion expected in about two years.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
HIGHLANDTOWN -- Those living in Southern School District will have to wait a few more months for groundbreaking on a $14.3 million school improvement and expansion project.
The April construction start originally anticipated has been pushed back to June, schools Superintendent Jeff Weekley said recently.
"The early estimates were a little too optimistic," Weekley said of the April groundbreaking he forecast in September.
He attributed the postponement to delays in getting design paperwork approved by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
Paper jam: The documents were submitted to the commission in November, but the district didn't receive approval until February, Weekley said.
The state body is contributing about $11.2 million to the project. The remainder is coming from a nearly $3.1 million bond issue approved in March 2000.
Being planned is perhaps the largest building effort ever undertaken by the rural district, which has about 900 pupils, Weekley has said.
Plans call for renovating and enlarging the district's junior-senior high school in Washington Township and converting it into a kindergarten through 12th grade complex.
Building expansion will include a second cafeteria and a 300-seat gymnasium for elementary and junior high pupils.
Putting all the district's pupils on one campus will allow the district to close its intermediate school in Salineville and transform its primary school on state Route 39 into administrative offices and storage space.
Up for sale: District officials want to sell the intermediate school, formerly Salineville High School.
No buyer for the structure has been found so far. If the building can't be sold, it will be razed.
At its April 23 meeting, the school board is expected to approve construction documents that will be used to create bid specifications for the work.
The district is likely to begin seeking bids from construction contractors in May, Weekley said.
It will take about two years to completely finish the project, he added.
School officials are undertaking the expansion and improvements to remedy overcrowding in the district's buildings and to modernize its facilities.
The buildings' ages mean they're less energy efficient than they should be.
The junior-senior high has been used since 1963, the primary since 1951 and the intermediate since 1937.