MCDONALD SCHOOLS Flood damage repairs to begin

FEMA will pay for 87 percent of the floor replacement cost.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
McDONALD -- Repairs to the flood-damaged Roosevelt Elementary School gym floor are expected to begin as early as Tuesday.
McDonald Board of Education approved a declaration of urgent necessity Friday to begin tearing out the 3,000-square-foot gym floor, and an 800-square-foot mechanical room floor. The board action allowed the hiring of the company immediately, without requiring bids, to expedite the work.
Cost of the replacement is pegged at $92,000, schools treasurer Thomas Radabaugh said. The district originally paid an extra $396,000 to have the gym in the new school building enlarged to 3,000 square feet, and the basketball floor was installed just four months ago, Radabaugh said.
A dedication ceremony for the new building was Friday evening at the high school stadium.
The new structure was built with an Ohio School Facilities Commission grant and a local bond issue at a cost of $8,353,000. McDonald kindergarten through sixth-grade pupils will attend classes at the Seventh Street building for the first time this year.
The firm that installed the floor -- Cincinnati Flooring of Cleveland -- will do the replacement.
Drying out
Radabaugh said the floor, which buckled into a peak right down the center after it had been covered with 8 inches of water the day before, will be torn up and the concrete base will be allowed to dry out.
Radabaugh said allowing the concrete to dry could three weeks or more, but the district is hopeful the work can be completed in six weeks, in time for the start of basketball season in mid-October.
The work will include dismantling and removal of the moveable bleachers, tearing out the old floor, replacing the wood, and the striping and finishing of the wood.
The district was approved for disaster funds from the Federal Emergency Management Association after school officials earlier this month attended a meeting with FEMA along with other districts that had flood damage from recent rainstorms. The district will be reimbursed for 87 percent of the floor replacement cost and will have to pay 13 percent, or an estimated $9,000 itself, the treasurer said.