COLUMBIANA CO. E. Palestine schools staff moves in

There's been a lot of moving around for personnel during the construction.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- After two years of working out of a construction trailer, the city schools central office staff is settling into new offices at East Palestine Elementary School.
"We're out of the 'trailer park,'" said Superintendent Jeff Richardson. His new corner office is dominated by windows. "I think we're all happy to be here."
Richardson, school Treasurer Rick Ellis and two staff members moved to the construction trailer during construction of the kindergarten and first-grade wing at the elementary school.
They had been in an old portion of the school that was demolished.
The superintendent's office complex was in the former East North Avenue Building from 1987 until the building was prepared for sale in 1998. The staff moved then to the top floor of the elementary building, then to the first floor in 2001 and from there into the trailer as various stages of construction progressed.
New quarters
The new offices are spacious and bright with a conference room, utility room and kitchen. Art projects by the district's elementary pupils are professionally hung, and one staff member is collecting photographs and other items to show the history of the district.
Across the hall are offices and a conference room for other administrators who moved from offices in different buildings.
Renovation of the high school offices is in progress, so the high school principal, two guidance counselors and two secretaries have taken over the vacant trailer. If work proceeds as planned, they are to be back in the high school offices before the start of school.
"It really wasn't that bad," Richardson's secretary, Jane Zellem, said of the two years working out of the trailer. "We joked about it mostly."
The close quarters of the trailer eliminated the need for an intercom system. When Zellem or Richardson needed to communicate, they could do so from their desks -- the old-fashioned way -- speaking at a volume only slightly above normal.
With no bathroom in the trailer, a trip to the restroom meant a walk to the elementary or the high school-middle school building and a chance to stretch one's legs.
The staff moved from the trailer to the new offices June 3. Zellem said she's still getting organized.
Much moving around
A decade of construction in the district has meant much shifting of personnel. Richardson said all the moves were an inconvenience at times, especially trying to keep track of files and personal items as they were frequently moved.
"Everyone in the district had to put up with construction at one time or another," Richardson said. "I think we've shown we're not exempt. We've been willing to put up with it, too."
Zellem said she is excited that a lot of the district's history is being saved and that she has space to create a display. Some of the items she has on display on two bookshelves so far are photographs, yearbooks, athletic programs and posters and some McGuffey Readers stamped "Unity School District," when the Unity area had its own district before the 1950s.
The construction of the kindergarten/first-grade wing of the elementary included a basement, which gives the district much-needed storage space for everything from desks and computers to athletic equipment.
"It will be interesting to see how long it takes us to fill this up," Richardson said.