COLUMBIANA COUNTY Board will hand out bids for school project at meeting

Asbestos abatement work will begin at McKinley on Thursday.
LISBON -- The board of education expects to have a special meeting Friday to award bids for the Ohio School Facilites Commission project set to begin within two weeks at McKinley Elementary, Superintendent Don Thompson says.
Ben Pintabona of R.P. Carbone, construction manager of the project, told board members Monday that 23 bids were received and were opened last Thursday.
Pintabona said he is in process of reviewing the references of the apparent low bidders in anticipation of the contracts being awarded. The lowest and best bids for the various contracts have all come in under the budget estimates for the project, which will allow the district to accept about half of the proposed alternates on the project, he said.
Thompson noted the staffs at McKinley and David Anderson Junior/Senior High School had been most cooperative in end-of-the-year packing to enable the OSFC projects to start this summer. Asbestos abatement work in conjunction with the projects will begin at McKinley on Thursday and at David Anderson next week, he said.
Supervisor will receive pay
In other matters, the board agreed to pay choral teacher Arlene Barnett as auditorium supervisor for the summer months. She will supervise the facility's usage by outside groups and be paid $250.
Thompson noted that Barnett has donated her services in the past, but with the new sound system recently installed, officials believe more groups will want to utilize the facility.
The board also learned that elementary art teacher Heidi Swift has been selected as one of 10 teachers from throughout the state to write the content standards for fine arts. According to McKinley Principal Lana Judy, Swift will have to attend meetings for writing the standards and the state will pay for her classroom substitute during those times.