Youngstown school board mulls new middle schools

YOUNGSTOWN — They don’t have state approval yet to build the building, but city school officials are ready to buy — or at least take bids on — furniture for the proposed Wilson Middle School.

The school board voted Tuesday to authorize bidding for furniture, fixtures and equipment for both Wilson and Volney Rogers Middle School. The latter is already under construction.

The district has been sitting on bids for the Wilson construction on Gibson Street for a month but has been unable to award the contracts.

The Ohio School Facilities Commission, which would pick up about 80 percent of the tab, has yet to sign off on the project, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent of school business affairs.

It’s an issue that should be resolved soon, DeNiro told board members during a finance committee meeting preceding the school board session. OSFC representatives were to be in Youngstown today to meet with school officials on the matter, he said.

School board member Lock P. Beachum Sr. suggested that the district look very carefully at enrollment numbers to determine if the Wilson and Rayen schools are still needed.

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