Board seeks OK for bigger project

By Mary Smith

MINERAL RIDGE — Declining income and decreased tax revenues prompted the Weathersfield Board of Education to approve a resolution designating its district as “special needs” and to file for that classification with the state.

The designation is needed for the district to continue the process of seeking a local bond issue to obtain a needed local match of $7 million to supplement a planned Ohio School Facilities Commission grant of $10.6 million for a school building project.

The term refers to the board’s determination that the sites, buildings and facilities and other permanent improvements defined in Ohio Revised Code as required for “proper education” of students attending the schools are inadequate.

The declaration also indicates the board cannot obtain sufficient funds by issuing securities to obtain the money needed to provide necessary improvements.

The district was approved for a $17.7 million facilities commission assistance project in November 2008 to demolish most of the middle school on state Route 46 except for the gymnasium and cafeteria, which are to be used as a community center. The rear of the building, where bus garages are kept, will be retained.

Middle school students in grades five through eight will be moved to Seaborn Elementary on Niles-Carver Road. A portion of Seaborn will be torn down, and new classrooms and restrooms will be added to create a combined K-8 building.

There will be two separate entrances into the building, one for kindergarten through fourth-grade pupils and another for fifth- through eighth-grade pupils. The two grade groups will share a common administrative office at the front of the building.

There will be 13 elementary school classrooms and 13 middle school classrooms and a new gymnasium. Each group will have a separate media center and art classrooms.

A stage will be placed in the gymnasium that can open to the gym or the cafeteria area behind it.

New administrative offices for the entire district will be added in the back.

The “special needs” designation refers to the square footage of the project that the state will pay for, and the district is 5,900 square feet over that limit, treasurer Laurena Rouhan said, which exceeds certain statutory requirements under Ohio Revised Code.

She said the need to build the administrative offices at the Seaborn site was part of the reason for that. The total square footage for the entire project will be 89,086, which includes the 5,900.

She noted that the district has gone to great lengths to ensure that it is not seeking to build more than the district can afford to maintain.