EAST PALESTINE Contracts to be set

EAST PALESTINE -- The board of education will award contracts for $7 million in improvements to the high school and middle school buildings at its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school.
Schools Superintendent Jeff Richardson said the project includes installation of central air conditioning and a sprinkler system throughout both buildings.
The construction plans at the high school include a new media center, computer lab, science room and four general classrooms. Two science rooms and a technology room will be added at the middle school, and the office and entrance will be remodeled so the office is closer to the middle school entrance, he said.
Richardson said the high school improvements also will include enlarging the art room, creating a new lobby and entrance to the gymnasium, and adding a storage room at the rear of the gymnasium.
Meanwhile, work at the elementary building continues on an addition for kindergarten and first grade. Contractors are working on ceilings and floor tile in the kindergarten-first grade wing, he said. The work also includes installing central air conditioning and sprinkler systems throughout the building, he said.
The elementary-school improvements are also about $7 million, Richardson said. The project is funded with local money and with aid from the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
School district residents voted in 1999 to let the district borrow $1.3 million through the sale of bonds to help pay for the projects. The OSFC is funding the remainder.
The elementary building houses pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade. Pupils in sixth through eighth grades are at the middle school and ninth through 12th grades at the high school.