NORTH SIDE Harding prepares to open its doors

Pupils from two former elementary schools will learn together.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With one new building already in operation, the city school district is poised to introduce pupils to yet another.
The new Harding Elementary is expected to debut Oct. 25, said Tony DeNiro, director of school business affairs.
Harding, being built near Cordova and Benita avenues on the city's North Side, will be the second new city school to open as part of the district's $200 million, largely state-funded construction project.
The undertaking entails rebuilding or renovating 15 school structures throughout the city.
Taft Elementary, on the South Side, had the honor of opening first. That occurred Sept. 7.
Harding was supposed to have opened then, too, but progress was slowed by last winter's harsh weather.
The 59,000-square-foot school will cost about $7.8 million, DeNiro said.
It will serve as learning headquarters for nearly 500 kindergarten-through-fourth-grade pupils from two one-time North Side schools.
The youngsters will come from the former Harding, which was razed, and the former Martin Luther King Elementary, which was abandoned as part of the construction project.
Future pupils
Right now, all the new Harding's future pupils are attending class at Jefferson school, a two-story structure built in 1911 on Virginia Avenue, west of Belmont Avenue on the North Side.
Jefferson was once part of the city school district. It later was bought by an Akron church that is leasing the building to the city school district for about $2,000 a month while Harding is being completed.
That chore is being accomplished as quickly as possible, DeNiro said.
Workers are installing carpeting and tile; painting walls and waxing floors. Furniture is being delivered.
DeNiro likened the building to a beehive, one that will buzz even more as the first day approaches.
Teachers will be permitted in soon to begin organizing their classrooms.
Though pupils will get to see the school Oct. 25, the community will have to wait a few more days.
The school district will host a dedication from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 31, DeNiro said.