School board president in favor of moving offices

Part of the old high school will be saved in a preservation effort.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The board of education president said she favors moving the board's administrative offices to a section of Warren G. Harding High School that is to be saved in a historic preservation effort.
"You need to try to consolidate," especially in financially difficult times, said Linda H. Metzendorf, board president."This at least, would be, I think, a better usage of taxpayers' money."
The board approved last month the design and the $1 million cost of the preservation project that will save the 1925-vintage auditorium, colonnade and office space at the high school. Moving the board offices to Harding helps to justify the preservation project, Metzendorf said.
"Economically, it's a smart thing to do ... There are only so many Saturday nights in a year that people want to rent auditoriums," she said. "If the board offices were there, then you really can justify to the community keeping the heat on, the water on and the air conditioning on."
Most likely, the board would sell the administration building at 261 Monroe St. after making the move, she said.
The preservation project, to be paid for with local funds, will occur after the new Warren G. Harding High School building opens in fall 2008 on adjacent land. The classroom wings of the old high school will be demolished.
Metzendorf said moving the board offices from Monroe Street to Harding would be advantageous because it would allow fuller and more efficient use of the Harding building. The board offices likely would occupy classroom, office and media center space on the second and third floors at Harding, she said.
Harding is centrally located and is the district's largest school campus, and it is desirable to have the offices near the students the board serves, she added. She said she didn't know how much operating money the board might save annually by making the move.
Metzendorf said building new board offices inside Harding would likely add costs above the $1 million for preservation, but she doubted state money would be available for that project.
Ideally, Metzendorf said, all board offices, both at Monroe Street and at Western Reserve Middle School, would be consolidated at Harding, if feasible.
Metzendorf said the Harding space is sufficient to accommodate the Monroe Street offices, but she wasn't sure if it would be adequate for offices now housed at Reserve. The offices of Associate Superintendent Loree Richardson, curriculum, technology, literacy programs and staff development are housed at Reserve.
The Monroe Street building, which was built as school board offices in the 1950s, is close to city hall, the public library and the county courthouse and would make good law or accounting offices, Metzendorf said.
Over the years, the board has had several inquiries from people potentially interested in buying the Monroe Street building, she said. "I think that that building would be very sellable," she said, adding that it has been well maintained.
"There's nothing wrong with the Monroe building, other than it's just another building for the taxpayers to heat and keep electric on," if the district were to retain it, she concluded.
milliken@vindy.com