Plan: 6 new schools

& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;By JoANNE VIVIANO & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Six city schools that were going to receive face-lifts will instead be completely rebuilt, according to plans being hammered out by district officials and the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
The schools -- Rayen and Wilson high schools, Volney Rogers Junior High School and the Paul C. Bunn, Mary Haddow and North elementary schools -- are part of the district's construction project that will rebuild or renovate 15 schools.
Officials at the OSFC, which will cover 80 percent of all construction costs, had said the six schools would be renovated. However, recent assessments of the buildings show that rebuilding from scratch is more efficient, said Gary Kasper, an OSFC project administrator. The change means the total cost of the project will increase to about $200 million or $201 million, said Youngstown schools Treasurer Carolyn Funk. The district is responsible for a local 20-percent share of that total cost, roughly $40 million.
In 1999, an original estimate for the total project cost was roughly $163 million. In more recent months, officials had been working with a $182.5 million total.
Raising funds
A bond levy approved by voters in November 2000 allows the district to raise $33.2 million of the local share. Funk estimates additional funds can be obtained from interest on the bonds, a portion of county millage funds and a portion of funds received from the 2001 sale of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield stock. This leaves a "gap" of $4 million to $5 million, she said.
Funk said school board members will likely discuss this gap Tuesday; the board meets for a caucus at 6 p.m. and a regular meeting at 7 p.m.
Kasper explained there are "a couple more hoops to jump through" before the six new buildings are a done deal. Among them are the documentation of the district's number of special-education pupils as well as a final stamp of approval by the OSFC.
Superintendent Benjamin L. McGee said the approval is "highly likely."
"It's been determined in most cases that it would cost more to renovate than it would to build a new school," he said. For example, the renovation of Rayen was estimated at $18 million, but the construction of a new, smaller Rayen would be $15.5 million, he said.
How it's determined
The OSFC has set a standard when determining whether a school will be renovated or rebuilt, said Tony DeNiro Jr., the school district's executive director of school business affairs. If costs of renovating are more than 67 percent the cost of rebuilding, the OSFC will rebuild, he explained.
Among items OSFC assessors had not accounted for in original tabulations are asbestos-removal costs, federal requirements regarding access by those who are disabled, rewiring for new computers/technology, and replacing or upgrading antiquated heating systems and adding air conditioning, McGee explained.
DeNiro said the main sticking point is agreeing on the size of special-education classrooms.
Both Rayen and Wilson will be rebuilt smaller and will serve as middle schools rather than high schools, McGee noted.
Volney Rogers school will be slightly larger, North will be smaller and Haddow will be roughly the same size. Bunn, which was going to receive an addition, will be larger; a plan is to close Jackson and send pupils from that school area to Bunn.
With the changes, the entire project includes the 12 new buildings of East High School, Rayen and Wilson, Volney Rogers, P. Ross Berry Middle School and the Harding, Taft, West, Williamson, North, Haddow and Bunn elementary schools. Renovations and/or additions will be completed at the Choffin Career & amp; Technical Center, Chaney High School and Kirkmere Elementary School. Officials have determined that Sheridan Elementary School will no longer be on the renovation list due to a drop in district enrollment.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;viviano@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;