TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials: Despite repair grants, schools need more money

School officials will travel to Columbus to get details so work can begin in each district.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Though the funds are sorely needed, in most cases area school superintendents say the amounts awarded are just a drop in the bucket.
Several Trumbull County school districts were awarded federal grants to make repairs at buildings. Funneled through the Ohio School Facilities Federal Emergency Repair Grant program, money was awarded to Liberty, Mathews, Southington, Champion and Weathersfield.
Superintendents and officials from each of the districts will travel to Columbus this week to learn the grant details and decide how soon construction can begin.
"It's just not one of those things you plan into the budget," said Lee Seiple, superintendent at Mathews, referring to repairs scheduled at the schools.
Putting funds to use
The Mathews district will use its allocation of $197,576 to upgrade and replace septic systems at all four buildings, Seiple said. All have been in need of repair for some time, he added.
Seiple said he learned of the grant program, which awarded $27.9 million in federal funds to public and charter schools throughout the state, from one of his architects.
"He found it on the Internet, and made me aware of it, so I checked into it," he said.
The maximum any district could receive was $500,000, and Seiple said Mathews applied for the full amount, but some projects were rejected, including replacing the roofs and doors at Currie and Baker elementary schools. Those projects are on hold, he said.
Two districts -- Liberty and Champion -- did receive the full grant amount. Spokesmen for both districts said they still need more money to cover their planned repairs.
"We needed to replace the roof at our middle school, which was more than 20 years old and giving us lots of problems," said Liberty Superintendent Larry Prince.
Prince said the grants were originally scheduled to be awarded this past summer, but the deadline kept getting pushed back. Some schools only received notification of grant approval earlier this month.
Using own funds
Since much of the work on the roof needed to be done before classes began, Prince said Liberty schools needed to dip into their own funds to work on the first half of the project. The grant money will be used to complete the second half.
"We are very appreciative of the grant, but it's not enough," he said.
Pam Hood, Champion superintendent, said the $500,000 the district received is only about one-third of what is actually needed to make all the repairs necessary.
"Yes, we got $500,000, but we probably have $1.5 million in repairs, and there are very few avenues public schools can pursue for that kind of money," she said.
Champion will use its grant money to work on digging up old fill used in additions constructed on the high school in the 1970s. At the time, contractors used fill under the foundations that included magnesium.
Throughout the years, the magnesium has absorbed moisture, which causes it to bubble; that, in turn, causes the floors of the building to buckle, walls to push out and ceilings to crack.
One of the five wings was rebuilt in 1993 at a cost of more than $960,000, she said. Champion schools are working on finding other grants to cover the remaining costs, Hood added.
'A drop in the bucket'
Weathersfield schools applied for more than $183,000 to repair floors at the middle school, to construct concrete sidewalks and to construct concrete storm sewer drains, said school treasurer Angela Lewis. The district received about $33,000 to repair boilers in the middle school.
"It's just a drop in the bucket for what we need," said Superintendent Rocco D. Adduci.
Lewis said all other projects will be put on hold indefinitely, since the school is facing a fiscal emergency situation after the loss of tax dollars from RMI Titanium.
Southington schools also will need to either put projects on hold or find alternative funding, said Superintendent William Pfahler.
The district was awarded about $295,000 for three separate projects, including replacing the heating and air conditioning systems at the Chalker building on the high schools grounds. The building houses science and English classes, as well as the district's administrative offices.
"Almost two-thirds of the money will be used to replace roofs," he said.
The district had applied for $500,000 to also upgrade the district's fire alarm and emergency lighting systems. That money will probably come from the school system's permanent improvement funds, he said.
slshaulis@vindy.com