Board OKs contract to repair Fitch Auditorium

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

The Austintown Board of Education approved a contract with Janson Industries to repair the rigging system in the Austintown Fitch High School auditorium.

The Canton-based company bid $7,821 for the job. Superintendent Vince Colaluca said other bids ran as high as $41,000. He said it will take Janson about 10 days to fix the rigging system once it orders parts. The auditorium could reopen as early as the first week of April.

The district announced the indefinite closure of the auditorium March 6 after a weight-and-pulley system broke, raising safety concerns. The rigging was installed when the school was constructed in 1968.

The board also accepted $2.1 million in state and federal grants. The majority of the funds are either received through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to fund special education programs or Title I, which provides funding to districts serving high numbers of students from low-income families.

Colaluca said the overall number is down from previous years and could continue to fall.

“President [Donald] Trump is talking about reducing it even more,” he said. “So that’s a little bit scary.”