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Boardman schools enter building assessment program
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
BOARDMAN
The Boardman Board of Education agreed to permit the state to come in and assess all district buildings.
The board voted Monday to participate in the School Building Assistance Expedited Local Partnership Program.
The program permits school districts that are more than two years away from eligibility for state assistance under the Classroom Facilities Assistance Program to receive a districtwide assessment and master plan from the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
The board has said a new middle school is needed to merge the two in use: Boardman Center and Glenwood middle Schools. Parts of Center are more than 100 years old, and Glenwood was built in the early 1960s.
Many school districts surrounding Boardman have taken advantage of state funding to build new schools, said Frank Lazzeri, superintendent.
Boardman, however, qualifies for only 16 percent funding of a project.
It will cost an estimated $40 million to tear down Center Middle School and build a new school to house all middle-school students.
The ELPP process will help identify replacement priorities in the buildings, Lazzeri said. The program will not cost the district anything to enter. To participate, however, the district was required to adopt a resolution to enter the program and commit to eventually placing a bond issue on the ballot.
“This process allows us to build a strategic plan,” said John Landers, a board member.
The resolution gives the estimated date of a future levy or bond passage between May 2016 and November 2017. It lists the estimated date to use the proceeds or other local resources as spring 2018.
Also at the meeting, the board approved hiring Thomas Davis as supervisor of transportation, effective July 1. Davis is currently a district bus driver. He has a master’s degree in secondary administration from Youngstown State University and has 28 years of experience as a teacher, principal and superintendent.
Davis replaces Hugh Braham, who retired last July after he was charged with operating a vehicle while impaired and failure to signal. Braham, under the retire/rehire program, was paid $45,784 annually. Davis will earn $51,007 a year, and was granted a three-year contract.