43
Board approves new pick-up, drop-off area
By KALEA hall
CANFIELD
After years of having an unsafe pick-up/drop-off area for students at Canfield Village Middle School, the board of education approved a new plan Wednesday to build a safer way to get students in and out.
The plan also will include the construction of a new rubber track and eliminate the cinder track at the middle school, in addition to expanding the school’s parking lot. The project will cost $32,357 and will be paid from the district’s permanent-improvement fund. A teacher and student can fundraiser will also provide $21,850 toward building the new track. The project is expected to be completed by Aug. 27 by Barbicas Construction Co. Construction could begin as early as Monday.
“A lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of effort and a lot of thought and finally, this has come to fruition, and it is a solution to what you all have seen out here in the mornings and afternoons,” said Rich Archer, schools business manager.
Archer made it clear at the meeting that students no longer will be allowed to be dropped off or picked up on Wadsworth Avenue in front of the school because of the safety hazard it has caused in the past. There will be a meeting for parents, and instructions on the new plan will be sent to parents.
Also Wednesday, schools Superintendent Alex Geordan briefly discussed adding a levy to the November ballot to support district growth, as recommended by the schools financial committee. It has been the district’s goal to continue reducing its deficit, and the levy would help that effort, Geordan said.
“Additional revenue is needed to maintain and to grow as a district,” he said. “With the revenue streams offered, taxation is the way to go. That is the recommendation of the financial committee.”
Geordan told the board the additional funding would go toward technology, course offerings, security and the pay-to-participate program. District Treasurer Patti Kesner told the board the district will receive no increases in state funding for at least the next two years.
The board will discuss the levy again at a special meeting next Thursday.
Canfield Gridiron also presented the board with a plan to possibly build a new concession stand at the stadium, to be funded by a private investor. The board is considering the proposal.