Clearfield Area School Board held committee meetings Monday night and discussed the ongoing concerns with the Clearfield Elementary School.
Last month the motion to request proposals for core drilling at the elementary school was defeated with some members expressing concerns about the cost of the proposed project, which was projected to be between $22-24 million.
During Monday’s meeting board member Kate Wood said that the board members have been concerned with both the students and teachers as well as the community and what they can afford.
She said she has been thinking about the matter and wondered why they couldn’t find ways to best serve both groups, noting that the board just wants to do what is right.
She suggested that the district needs to pursue grants and grant writing as a start and look at other options, such as reaching out to other architectural firms.
Wood also suggested that the newer board members need to be taken on a walk through of the school during the day to get a good understanding of what the issues are.
“I get it, a tax millage increase is concerning for those of us who struggle to make ends meet,” she said, adding that it is also concerning when they have desks in the halls and classes in storage areas.
Board member Mary Ann Jackson agreed, stating that they need a building that works for everyone but also work on keeping costs down.
She said she had spoken with Superintendent Terry Struble about some thoughts, including having the Penn State Department of Architecture work on the project, and noted that they could take advantage of the buildings at the Commonwealth University Campus, which is slated to close in two years.
Struble replied that they are looking at smaller projects that they might be able to easily get grants for, such as replacing windows, which would decrease the overall cost of the project.
He said the work needs to be done, but the district doesn’t want to raise taxes on an already burdened populace.
