TRUMBULL COUNTY Girard board, council to mull park site for new high school

City council has the final say in any sale of Liberty Memorial Park.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The board of education and city council will meet Monday to discuss the possible purchase of a portion of Liberty Memorial Park as the site of a new high school.
Board president Thomas Grumley said the 8 p.m. executive session "will open dialogue" with city officials about the park site. It will follow the 7 p.m. council session at municipal court.
In May, Gov. Bob Taft announced that Girard was among a number of districts eligible for funding a new school under the Rebuilding Ohio Schools program. The Ohio Schools Facilities Commission then agreed to provide most of the funds to construct the school.
Superintendent Joseph Jeswald said the total project will cost about $22 million, with the state paying some $17 million and the school district the remainder.
The board is considering placing a bond issue on the May 2005 primary ballot to fund its portion, he explained.
State money cannot be used to purchase a site, thus the school board, Grumley explained, is in the "preliminary stages" of trying to find property in the city.
Other options
Besides the 90-acre park, Jeswald said other sites being looked at are Mahoning Country Club property near Prospect elementary and the intermediate schools and the current location of the 80-year-old high school.
Selection will be a long process, Jeswald explained, with public hearings scheduled so the public and staff can express their opinions.
The park location has brought opposition from Jane Harris, a former school board member who was a member of the three-member commission that oversaw the park until the city took it over in the 1990s.
Harris said Liberty Memorial is the only natural park in the city filled with large hardwood trees and is a memorial to military veterans.
Still a public park
She said that when the park commission ran out of money, the park was turned over to the city with the understanding it would continue to exist as a public park.
"The city has no right to sell the park," Harris commented, noting the city has a legal and moral obligation not to sell it.
Mayor James J. Melfi said he has met with school board leadership about the sale. The final decision rests with city council.
Melfi explained that the park is city property, the city has supported it, and that he's not in favor of selling it. The mayor explained, however, that he would consider selling a portion of the land so the school district does not lose state funding.
"We certainly do not want our city to be without a new high school because of the lack of land," Melfi added.
yovich@vindy.com