SHARON School board to study renovation proposal

The district has already borrowed $29 million to renovate three buildings.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- School directors have to borrow up to $1.5 million to complete renovation of the middle-high school but should they borrow $7.6 million more to renovate Case Avenue Elementary?
That's the issue put before them at their Wednesday work session in the form of a list of recommended improvements at the elementary building.
The $7.6 million is only a proposal and the board will now have to determine how much work should be done and how much it can afford, said Superintendent Richard Rossi.
The project architect estimates Sharon will be eligible for a state reimbursement of nearly $4.4 million of the Case Avenue work, Rossi said.
Current debt: Sharon has already borrowed $29 million in three bond issues to pay for $12 million in improvements at the Musser and West Hill elementaries and just over $17 million at the middle-high school.
The board has raised property taxes by 13 mills so far to specifically pay off that debt. There was no discussion of what millage might be needed to pay for the Case Avenue work. One mill costs the average residential taxpayer about $5 per year, school officials have said.
The board will have to borrow between $1 million and $1.5 million more to complete the financing for the on-going middle-high school project. Rossi said the district should make decisions now about Case Avenue, as the next round of borrowing will probably occur in June or July.
Security concerns: A small item on the Case Avenue list is $10,000 for a new security system but School Director Dom Russo said that isn't enough.
He's pushing for a more elaborate system that would include video surveillance cameras and perhaps entry detection systems on all doors.
Russo also wants the same type of system at the middle-high school as part of the renovations there.
That discussion prompted School Director Kathy Hall to question current security at the middle-high school in the evening hours. The doors are left unlocked for people who use the building for classes and other activities and anyone can walk in unchecked, she said.
Rossi said one answer may be to hire a security guard to monitor the building from 3 to 11 p.m. Another might be to rework custodial schedules so that someone would be working near the main building entrance during the evening hours, he said.