LEETONIA Schools to fall after football

The state will pay for demolition of the old school buildings.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- School officials hope to see demolition of the former Washingtonville Elementary and the old high school buildings soon after varsity football season ends.
Superintendent Tom Inchak said bid specifications should be available next week. The district must then advertise for bids for about three weeks.
He said plans are for demolition to start soon after football season ends, but that depends on the schedule of the winning bidder.
Plans are to have a new football stadium on the district's new kindergarten-through-12th-grade campus ready by the start of the 2003 football season.
Inchak said the board must have cost estimates and other planning information in hand before the stadium adjacent to the old school is dismantled. The stadium and the old high school are on a 3.6-acre corner lot on Walnut Street the board plans to sell after demolition.
The Washingtonville building has been sold, but the property won't officially change hands until the building is demolished, Inchak said.
The money
Demolition of Washingtonville, Orchard Hill and the high school is being paid for by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The state funded most of the new $17-million school complex that houses all the district's nearly 900 pupils.
The Orchard Hill building was razed this summer to make way for a parking lot for the new school.
Contractors are doing excavating and other site work in the area to replace baseball and softball fields lost during the construction.
Syverson said school officials have set aside about $520,000 of the district's permanent improvement levy revenue for athletic fields development since 1998, when school officials learned the state would fund the new school.
Architects
On Wednesday, the board of education interviewed architect firms for the new athletic facilities.
Athletic complex plans include a new football stadium and track and other items such as an outdoor basketball court or gazebo as funds allow.
Inchak said the board will likely hire one of the three firms at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.