Construction is set to begin on school

A decision on who will supply water to the new building hasn’t been finalized.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Construction is about to begin on the latest project in the city school district’s rebuilding program.

The school board has awarded contracts totaling more than $8.2 million for the new Paul C. Bunn Elementary School at Sheridan Road and Sequoya Drive in Boardman Township.

The total project cost is expected to reach about $9.5 million.

The site is within the Youngstown city school district. In Ohio, school boundaries are independent of municipal boundaries.

Youngstown is replacing or remodeling/expanding 14 buildings at a total cost expected to be around $182 million, with the state picking up 80 percent of eligible construction costs.

Eight of those projects have been completed.

The former Bunn Elementary at Sheridan and Sequoya, named for a former city school superintendent, was razed two years ago as part of the rebuilding effort, and a new 56,000-square-foot building is being built at the same location.

Pupils have been attending classes at the former Jackson Elementary School on Windsor Avenue in the city since the razing.

Criticism of site

There has been some criticism of the board’s decision to rebuild in Boardman, but the Rev. Michael Write, school board president, said at the June groundbreaking that the rebuilding of Bunn on the same site is the fulfillment of a promise made by the district.

Bunn parents support the location, and the school district already owns a large piece of land there, he said.

The original school was opened in 1958 to relieve overcrowding at Jackson, about 17 blocks away. At the time, Youngstown had 26,000 pupils in class. Today, the pupil population has slipped below 8,000.

The district has secured the necessary zoning and building permits for the new Bunn, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs.

Pre-construction site work, including foundations, was done by Kreidler Construction Co. of Poland in August at a cost of $554,000.

Furniture for the new building will be bid at a later date. It is scheduled to open in fall 2008.

Water supply issue

Meanwhile, just where the new school will get its water has yet to be determined.

The school district had been proceeding with plans to buy water from Aqua Ohio, based on the belief that Youngstown’s water system would be unable to supply adequate service to the building.

School officials based that assumption on water pressure tests in that area in 2005 that showed the city line didn’t have sufficient pressure to operate a fire sprinkler system in the new school.

However, the district went back to the city to discuss water supplies last month at the request of school board member Jamael Tito Brown who suggested the city be asked if the situation with the municipal supply had changed.

DeNiro said school and construction officials will meet with city representatives Thursday to find out what the city can provide.

“We’re at the point now where we need to make a decision,” he said.

gwin@vindy.com