NEW CASTLE —
A marriage of the New Castle kindergarten program and St. Joseph Church could be a match made in heaven.
District superintendent George Gabriel this week told school board members he anticipates “a substantial savings” could be realized if kindergarten classes are moved from the Lockley school during renovations next year.
Because board members raised no objections at their Monday night workshop, Gabriel said he will begin negotiations on behalf of the district for the unused school at St. Joseph the Worker Church.
“That building is in good shape,” Gabriel said. “We won’t have to put any money into it to use it. It’s not one bit run down.”
Gabriel said the idea came “almost as if by spiritual guidance.
“I was headed toward Kmart and thinking about what could be done about next year’s kindergarten, how I could squeeze more kids into our existing buildings,” he said. “I drove down Cascade street, looked up and there it was — St. Joseph Church and school.”
Gabriel said he does not know when the church school closed, but anticipates its eight to 10 classrooms could accommodate the 275 to 300 kindergartners the district projects for fall.
“It’s smaller than the space we have at Lockley. We’ll have to make a few modifications, clean the building and remove all religious pictures and icons, since we are a public school,” he said. “But we could fit all of our teachers and students under one roof and accommodate technology, food service and maintenance. I’m very satisfied with the conditions I found there.”
Gabriel said the church could continue to conduct its CCD classes in the evenings without disruption to the district’s programs.
Anticipating the board will approve his request at tonight’s meeting, Gabriel said, he and principal Debbie DeBlasio will tour the facility and see what they have to work with.
“We’re excited that we won’t have to spread kids all over New Castle,” he said.
The district anticipates spending $19 million to construct an addition to the Harry W. Lockley Kindergarten Center, thereby creating an early learning center that would consolidate children from kindergarten, first and second grades in one facility.
The plan includes closing West Side, John F. Kennedy and Thaddeus Stevens primary centers. Children in grades three to six will be housed in George Washington Intermediate Elementary School.
Gabriel said he began thinking about moving the children from Lockley when architects on the project told him he could save $250,000 to $275,000 if they could work on renovating the old building while construction is underway.
“It could cut construction time, they could have the big equipment in only one time, they could lay cables and wires — but they can’t do it if the kids are in the building and they have to work around them” he said.
“We’ll continue with our project and hope it comes in under budget, as we did with the high school.”
Once completed, Gabriel said, the district will realize savings because it expects to close three buildings and reduce staff.
“We hope we’ll be able to sell (the buildings),” he said. “We have no plans yet.”
(Email: nlowry@ncnewsonline.com)
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New Castle may move kindergarten to St. Joseph
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