The Times West Virginian

Local News

May 5, 2009

SBA head willing to meet with MCBOE

By Katie Wilson

FAIRMONT — Facilities issues dominated the Marion County Board of Education meeting Monday.

First up, the MCBOE’s invitation to Mark Manchin, executive director of the state School Building Authority, appears to have been accepted.

Board members issued the invitation at the last regular meeting two weeks ago, just a day after the SBA denied a request from Marion County for a grant to renovate Fairmont Senior High School. Monday, Superintendent of Schools James Phares said Manchin had responded with three dates he had available next month.

“The question is, how do we posture grants and major improvement projects to get in the most favorable light,” Phares said.

The meeting could take place on June 2, just one day after Tom Deadrick takes over as the new superintendent of schools.

In other facilities matters, the committee charged with creating the new 10-year Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan presented their findings to the board.

The committee was created several months ago to work on the plan with the help of architecture and engineering firms. Basically, the committee is looking at all the needs in every school and will eventually prioritize those needs into the new CEFP.

The CEFP is the guiding document for school facilities, listing needs in order of priority. Every 10 years, the CEFP is revised.

The committee divided itself into different groups to focus on different areas.

The following is their findings and represents a “wish list” of issues that should be remedied:

The group focusing on reconfiguring K-6 schools in the East Fairmont attendance areas would like a new East Fairmont Middle School, changing the grade 5-8 alignments to match those in the other areas of the county, building a new elementary school to replace East Park, upgrades at East Dale and Pleasant Valley elementary schools, and an access road and drainage at East Fairmont High.

The North Marion area middle school configuration group wants to keep community schools and seeks upgrades at Barrackville, Blackshere, Fairview and Monongah elementary schools, Fairview Middle School and North Marion High. The group would like to see new schools built to replace Monongah and Mannington middle schools, but if that’s not possible, upgrades to the facilities.

The group focusing on older schools, meaning those 80 years old or older, recommended a host of maintenance just to keep those buildings open for another 10 years. That group includes Barnes Alternative Learning Center, Barrackville School, East Fairmont Junior High, East Park Elementary, Fairmont Senior High, Fairview Middle, Mannington Middle, Monongah Middle, Pleasant Valley Elementary and Rivesville School. Jayenne Elementary falls under that category, but after significant renovations a few years ago, that building only needs some additional parking. The renovations for the other buildings include things like fire alarms, replacement of boilers and furnaces and bathroom renovations.

Another group focused on the four schools currently operating beyond their capacity. East Dale, White Hall, Monongah and Watson elementary schools are all considered overcrowded. The group recommended realigning grade levels on the East Side, and adding onto those four schools to relieve the problem.

The fifth group was tasked with addressing technical and adult educational facilities. With continuing structural deficiencies at the Marion County Technical Center, the group is recommending building a new center at a new location. That new center ideally would handle all adult and technical education.

The next step in the process is to take this plan to the people to find out what they think should go into the next CEFP. Community meetings will be scheduled later this spring and summer.

E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

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