Live from Sabraton … it’s the Monongalia County Board of Education.
As of Friday.
When the BOE convenes that day for a noon meeting to discuss a North Elementary School renovation project, it will be at its new digs on 1751 Earl L. Core Road, in a building that once housed the administrative offices of MedExpress.
The school district last summer agreed to purchase the building for $6.9 million — with that price tag stretched across a five-year payment plan.
It wasn’t that the district was stretched at its 13 S. High Street location that served as its central headquarters for decades.
“Compressed,” was more like it, Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said.
The block-ish, multi-story building has 15,000 square feet and a sloping parking lot — with just two visitor’s spaces.
Add that to a lattice-work of narrow stairwells and tight hallways, he said, and you have a structure making barely adequate marks with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Plus, other administrative services were farmed out to other facilities in Westover and Suncrest, out of architectural necessity.
In contrast, the Sabraton location clocks in at 31,000 square feet, with ample parking on a level lot.
“The central office should be a location where parents can make their connection with the school district as a whole,” he said.
“Parents shouldn’t have to park somewhere else and walk a block to get here.”
The district didn’t have to do much of a contractor’s walk to move in to the Sabraton address, Deputy Superintendent Donna Talerico said.
The building was already wired for high-tech data services and the sprinkler system was operational.
Restrooms were already ADA-compliant, she said.
A kitchen area was converted to a café-type space for employees on break, Talerico said. An existing outdoor deck is already proving popular for the same, she added.
The only component not there until now, the deputy superintendent said, was the BOE.
Board members completed their final meeting at the South High Street location Tuesday evening.
They worked through an agenda that featured Communications Coordinator Teresa Nass unveiling the fruits of her work for the past several months: A newly revamped website and mobile app.
Mike Kelly, the BOE’s vice president, conducted the meeting. Ron Lytle, his fellow incumbent who is serving a second stint as president, is out of the country, but checked in by telephone.
Kelly said he was honored to oversee the last proceedings in the building that he said served the school district well — all things (structurally) considered.
“Anything for the good of the order?” he asked, raising the gavel.
There was nothing else, so he brought it down.
“Everyone’s all done. This is the final one.”
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