Austintown school board plans two new buildings

Photo

Vince Colaluca

The board also appointed Dan Bokesch as director of curriculum.

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Board of Education wants the district to be a model of educational excellence for the region.

To help prove its point, the board presented a model Tuesday night of what the Austintown campus would look like if a proposed 2.9-mill levy passes this fall.

If approved by voters, the levy would help fund the district’s 53 percent share of a $50 million facility-expansion project.

“We’re looking at a conceptual model that shows the location of the two new elementary buildings that are being proposed for Austintown schools,” said Raymond Jaminet of Olsavsky Jaminet Architects Inc. of Youngstown. The firm designed the model as well as the new Austintown Middle School. “The one building would be kindergarten through grade two and the other building would be grades three through five.”

The model featured a conceptual design of the campus with the two identical new buildings separated by athletic fields. The new structures would be located on the current sites of Frank Ohl Intermediate and Watson Elementary schools.

“I love the concept,” said township resident Nancy Wickham, who has a child at the middle school. “I think it’s a good plan, and I’m all for it.”

She did have one concern about the lack of parking shown on the new campus. Since the model was only a conceptual idea, issues such as parking would be addressed later on, Jaminet said.

In other business, the board appointed middle school principal Dan Bokesch as director of curriculum. He replaces Vincent Colaluca, who was chosen district superintendent earlier this month.

Overall, it was a busy meeting for Colaluca, who oversaw his first official board meeting in his new position and was all smiles afterward. He said he was comfortable and calm during the meeting.

“We are a family, so I am not nervous about our board meetings,” he said. “We have great communication between the board and the central office, so there are never any surprises. The meeting went well, and that’s how I plan for every meeting to go.”

And thouugh the board resembles a family, it was Colaluca’s actual family who helped him along. His wife, Lisa, and children Dante, 10, and Ava, 6, attended.

“I could not do this job without the support of my family,” Colaluca said. “It is a very big job, regardless if we are a large district or a small district. Becoming a superintendent and taking on all those responsibilities takes cooperation from all of our employees, but also my family.”

jmoffett@vindy.com