Warren school projects detailed

By John w. Goodwin jr.

WARREN — School officials and community members learned the particulars of the building project that will bring two new school buildings to the city’s west side.

Residents will see construction on the Fifth Street Southwest and Tod Avenue Northwest buildings in the near future. Foundations for the new Jefferson K-8 and McGuffey K-8 will be laid April 27.

A milestone dateline presented during the Wednesday afternoon meeting showed the anticipated date of completion for both buildings to be August 2010.

Frank Caputo, school district representative for the projects, said the two buildings will be similar to other K-8 buildings built in the district under this building project, but smaller because of population demands.

The new buildings are being constructed under a program where the state pays 81 percent of the total costs. Voters passed a levy in 2003 to pay the remaining 19 percent.

Caputo said the two buildings currently under construction will cost slightly more than $12 million each to build.

The actual dollar amount from the state is determined by the number of students attending each individual school.

Caputo said the state determined that the new buildings would need enough space for about 640 students, but the district is spending upward of an additional $2 million to construct buildings that can handle 750 students each.

“We feel we are not going to lose as much population as determined by the state,” Caputo said. “We are very optimistic that the population will stabilize. The last thing you want to do is move into a building and not have the needed space.”

Other K-8 schools built in the city have two gymnasiums, but the new Jefferson and McGuffey schools will have only one gymnasium in each school. Caputo said the population of the school did not warrant two gymnasiums.

Caputo said the district has made conscious decisions to maximize use of the space in the new buildings. The cafetoriums in both schools are designed to be smaller. The space saved in making the cafeteria and auditorium areas smaller will be used for educational purposes with computer labs and additional band space.

“State-of-the-art computer labs will be in these schools. There will be an emphasis on computer labs,” Caputo said. “Our bands are large at the middle schools. We have a commitment to that, and we will have much more band space than we have had in the past.”

A parent asked about safety issues in the new schools.

Caputo said the district has hired a security company to patrol the grounds when equipment begins to arrive. He also said there is limited access to the new buildings and cameras inside and outside the buildings.

“All these buildings are secure,” he said. “You need a [access] card to get in. Other than that, no one can get in unless you are buzzed in. Once the kids are in the building that is the safest place they can be.”

jgoodwin@vindy.com