By JIM RUNKLE
RENOVO -Having served its last official duties as a way station for students from Woodward and Mill Hall elementary schools during renovations of those facilities, McGhee Elementary School is likely to be officially closed and sold in the near future.
The Keystone Central School Board took a first, tentative step in that direction at this week's board meeting at Bucktail Area High School.
"If we aren't keeping it, we should start the process of getting rid of it," said board member Jeff Snyder. "The general feeling was to wait until the hotel was built because that will probably increase the value of the property in that area ... perhaps until next spring or summer."
Snyder agreed the wait for a final sale made sense, but said the district has no reason to postpone the legal process that attends an official school closure.
Board President Jack Peters agreed, saying that, with a hotel, two restaurants and condominiums nearby, "We aren't going to have to give McGhee away."
The new Fairfield Inn & Suites, located in Susquehanna Square, 50 Spring St., and owned by Shaner Investments of State College, is to include two restaurant chains, and two residential condominium buildings, each containing 12 units when finished.
Interim Superintendent Dr. John DiNunzio asked the board for an unofficial, general opinion about McGhee, and the consensus was the district should move forward with the closure.
Last school year, Woodward students attended McGhee in Lock Haven while Woodward was being renovated. The previous year, McGhee served as the home for Mill Hall elementary students while renovations were made to that school.
The renovations were the first and second stage in a massive, three-phase elementary school improvement project that is now ongoing at Renovo Elementary.
DiNunzio, who toured Renovo Elementary with other officials and school board members before Tuesday evening's meeting at Bucktail, said he expects the facility will be a very nice building when it is finished.
Distance prevents Renovo Elementary School from following the suit of the other projects.
Unlike the first two projects, the construction crews are being forced to work in stages with the Renovo facility. Because of distances, it's not practical to bus students to another building, so sections are being cordoned off to students and being renovated in stages. The effort is designed to keep disruptions to a minimum while both the work and the educational process run side by side.
"It's been a pleasure thus far working with the teachers, community and kids," said Principal Nick Verrelli. "There's a lot going on, and everybody has been extremely patient and flexible. People are doing the things that need to be done ... there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel."
Not that the construction process has gone completely smoothly.
At this week's meeting, Renovo area board representative James "Butch" Knauff complained about several change orders that added some costs to the project. Knauff suggested some of those changes were the result of design errors and the costs should be incurred by the contractors.
But representatives for the firms characterized the changes as a normal part of the construction process, which, at times, will uncover "valued added" changes to recommend to the board.
Knauff said in the case of adding 12 missing electrical outlets at an additional cost of $5,340, that was clearly not the case.
The contractor , B.K. Controls Inc., also added a fixture over the food prep counter in the kitchen, for $671, a value-added change in the lighting system.
Another contractor, Silvertip Inc., changed the existing ductwork because it interfered with the installation of a new wall, for an added cost of $3,701, and relocated rain water lines in the multi-purpose room to allow for a new folding partition, at a cost of $2,656.
School officials said the district was fortunate to have an extra building to facilitate improvements to the two other schools-but its reason for being has ended.
In recent years, the district has also engaged in a number of other renovations that have touched nearly every district-owned facility.
Much of the work on the three elementary schools was made possible by a $12 million, interest-free Quality Zone Academy Bond the district floated several years ago.
In early December, the board approved a massive, $40 million restructuring of its long-term debt, in an attempt to even out the payments and cover a number of renovation projects including the ongoing high school football stadium and physical education facility project. The restructuring also included additional funds for the needed improvements to the Renovo facility.
McGhee, built for kindergarten through grade five in 1955, has a maximum student capacity of 300.
The school is on two acres near the Lock Haven University property, and the standard property size for schools of this capacity is 13 acres, according to Hayes Large Architects, the consulting firm for the school improvement projects.
