YOUNGSTOWN Board, church settle out of court

Mount Calvary paid the school board $55,000 by certified check, the superintendent said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VNDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city school board has approved a settlement of its lawsuit against Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church regarding several years' rent the church owed the board for the use of the former Princeton Junior High School.
The board sued Mount Calvary for some $160,000 in back rent, utility bills and legal expenses for the church's use of the board-owned former junior high school to house the church-affiliated Calvary Christian Academy, but the board agreed to accept $55,000 from the church in the out-of-court settlement.
The church has already paid the board the $55,000 by certified check, Superintendent Benjamin McGee said. The academy has not re-opened for this school year.
"I'm pleased that we resolved the issue because issues like this become somewhat of a distraction to both parties," McGee said after the board approved the settlement Monday.
McGee said the board agreed to the settlement because of the mounting legal fees and uncertain outcome that could have resulted from proceeding with the suit, which could have taken a long time to resolve. He also noted that the board will keep an additional $25,000 the church paid toward possible purchase of the building, so it is really getting $80,000 from the church.
Purchases: The board also bought the final two parcels of land it will need for its expansion of Chaney High School, one at 2304 Overlook Ave. from Lubie Babinchak for $90,000, and the other from Charles and Barbara Colantone at 557 S. Hazelwood Ave. for $68,000, both owner-occupied houses.
McGee said Babinchak intends to move the house that's now on the land that she sold to the board to another lot at her expense. The Colantone residence and another house the board previously purchased are to be demolished.
The board appointed Mary B. Clark, retired principal at Taft Elementary School, and Maria Pappas, who most recently served as coordinator of gifted student education, as elementary school principals. Clark will serve as principal at Bennett Elementary School, and Pappas as principal at Paul C. Bunn Elementary School, through this school year, said Germaine Bennett, executive director of human resources.