The proposed 900-student Ben Franklin Elementary School Project is off the table, but it could return in a modified form.
Board President Doug Steve, in his message before the regular school board meeting last night, said that the reason why the project would not continue on is because of traffic concerns from PennDOT. He said that the student population of the proposed school would require a turning lane on Ben Franklin Road, and that would take at least 6 months to complete, so he said it was not worth putting more time and money into the effort.
At a buildings and grounds committee meeting held prior to the Indiana School Board meeting on Monday Night, Superintendent Dale Kirsch presented the members of the committee with several options concerning the future of the project. Kirsch said that the most practical options would be to stop the project completely and use the remaining $8.5 million connected with the project for other purposes or reduce the size of the new school and consider a three-school option. Architects McKissick and Associates anticipated the question of project size reduction and presented the committee with a rough draft drawing of what the reduced project would look like. Ideas include taking the third floor off the building to reduce student populations to around 600 students. That document was not made available to the public in attendance at the meeting.
No word yet on what option the board will want to take, but that will come up for a vote at a future meeting.
In a related matter, the board during the regular board meeting approved requesting McKissick and Associates to provide the district with all documents related to the building projects, including bid package documents and drawings. To save on printing costs, the documents will be provided in an electronic format.
