NEW CASTLE Officials: Let's move ahead on high school plan

By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City school officials say they are ready to move on with plans to build a new high school.
Superintendent Joseph A. Martin Jr. said he will meet with architects Monday to restart plans for the new school.
Plans were put on hold last summer when Mayor Timothy Fulkerson asked the district to look at an alternative plan, which didn't pan out.
Martin said city council's vote Thursday night to close Reis Street and an unnamed alley for the project, along with granting the district a conditional-use permit, paved the way to start work on the project again.
He thanked the officials who supported the project. It was opposed by only one city council member who was concerned about fire safety to homes behind the school if the street is closed.
The work: District plans call for several nearby homes to be razed first and an education wing to be constructed. Then the high school will be razed and a new arts wing will be built in its place. Both wings will meet on Reis Street.
The superintendent said homes should be razed sometime this summer in preparation for the new building.
Other work, including updating utility lines, could also take place this year. Martin said that work can be done before bids are solicited for construction through a process called selective bidding.
This will allow the district to handle smaller matters first, such as removing asbestos from the buildings they plan to raze and pre-ordering steel which must be bought several months in advance.
"I think in early spring 2002, which is about 12 to 14 months, is probably when we will be breaking ground" for the school, he said.
Approval: State education officials have already given the district approval for several phases of the project, including initial design plans.
The next step will include preparing for an Act 34 hearing to explain the financing and scope of the project. Martin said it should be held in six to eight weeks.
State law requires the district to advertise it for 20 days, prepare a booklet outlining all plans, then have a 30-day comment period after the hearing.