Austintown schools begin 2012 with better road access

By christine keeling

ckeeling@vindy.com

austintown

Getting around campus will be easier for students as they return to classes Tuesday.

Falcon Drive is reopened in its new location, just north of Watson Elementary School. The road opening gives motorists access to the district’s middle and high schools from Idaho Road and will cut down on students’ bus-ride times.

The drive was closed earlier this year and moved to make room for the district’s new kindergarten-through-second and third-through-fifth-grade buildings.

R.T. Vernal Paving & Excavating of North Lima began the paving process before classes ended for winter break.

Another road, to the west of Fitch, which also was closed, will be reopened, too.

Mal Culp, the school district’s supervisor of facilities and operations, said the community tolerated the road’s being closed very well. The opening, he said, “will help tremendously for winter sports and bus traffic.”

The district offered a shuttle service for spectators from a parking lot on Mahoning Avenue to the school during home football games last fall, and school buses were forced to drive an extra four miles a day to load and unload students.

Having the drive open will save the district about $342 in fuel a day, said Colleen Murphy, Austintown’s transportation supervisor. It also will reduce ride times for students approximately 10 minutes a day, she said.

Drop-off and pickup locations for car riders will not change.

Frank Ohl Intermediate students are to be dropped off or picked up in front of Watson Elementary and Watson students in front of Frank Ohl.

Fitch car riders should be dropped off or picked up in front of their school.

“Dropping students off in the bus loading and unloading area at the back of Fitch is dangerous,” Murphy said.