The Claim, 2/3/11: The Center (Township) school is the worst of the elementary buildings that were sold. (The others were the Village School, the Shalersville building, and the Hiram school.) Graham Harmon made the statement.
Facts and History
The school was built in 1912. In response or reaction to the terrible 1908 Collinwood School Fire*, it was built entirely of concrete, including the bell tower. Wooden floors were laid over the concrete ones, which were sloped a bit towards center drains.
When the Crestwood School District was working to get a levy passed for a new school building, with the intention of closing the outlying buildings, tours of the elementary schools were conducted. John Vechery toured the Center school, which he had attended, and told me that the Crestwood administrator talked about the poor condition of the school, as indicated by the fact that the wooden floors "sagged."
John said that he differed on the spot, and explained how the school had been built and why the wooden floors apparently sagged. He also said that after that there were no more derogatory remarks about the poor condition of the school. Mr. Harmon was not in that tour; I do not know whether he was in any tour of the building.
Before the Mantua Township Trustees decided to buy the Township school, two inspections were conducted. The first was paid for jointly by the Crestwood Local School District, and the second was contracted by the trustees with an independent firm. The owner of that firm was the Building Commissioner of the City of Bedford at the time. His business card lists him as a certified building and electrical inspector. According to Vic, that inspection took nearly 5 hours and went from top to bottom, side to side, and included pulling various inspection panels.
Both inspections certified that the school was sound. The main requirement was to bring it up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Meeting those requirements is ongoing, and a major part of the effort to renovate the building for use.
The foundations have not shifted. At the high school, however, first occupied in 1956-57, at least one of the end walls is pulling away from the rest of the building; and leaks have occurred in one of the downstairs rooms that houses equipment.
At the Village School, two trenches were cut through the boys' locker room and filled with gravel. Drain tile laid into the gravel carried away water that ran through that area regularly because of the site and the building's placement on it.
The Hiram school was purchased by a private party, let fall into disrepair while it stood vacant, and was recently slated for demolition.
In short, the Mantua Township School is structurally more sound at 100 than three newer buildings.--sound enough to be a viable choice for township offices and activities.
The building has been described by a master traditional wood craftsman as one of the most beautiful in Northeast Ohio
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Other information and facts about the Mantua Township School will be presented here from time to time.
*You can read more by using Google or Wikkipedia. Key in "Collinwood School Fire."
About This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to give an accurate account of what is said during Public Comment at Mantua Township Trustees meetings.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Principles
Two ideas guide and support me:
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
