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ToquiNotes: Will Johnson Elementary be Ready for New School Year? Manchin Comes Clean on it All

By Jeff Toquinto on April 21, 2018 from ToquiNotes via Connect-Bridgeport.com

There’s been an amazing amount of work completed on the new Johnson Elementary School since ground was broken less than a year ago on the project. In fact, it was May 25, 2017 when the ceremony was held at the field that hosted baseball games and football practices for decades.
 
Yet despite all of the work done in such a short time, one question I frequently get asked – and sometimes it’s more of a statement – is in relation to the school’s forthcoming opening. The question is “will Johnson be open for school next year?” The statement is occasionally “there’s no way Johnson will be ready for school.”
 
Harrison County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Manchin has continually insisted when school begins in early August the new Johnson Elementary School will be open for educational business. Any chances of that changing will almost certainly be put to bed in the next few weeks.
 
The reason?
 
“The current Johnson Elementary School is coming down. The demolition planning has begun,” said Manchin following a Wednesday morning meeting at the existing JES. “We’ll also trying to determine what we’re going to do with that space from parking to green space and anything else.”
 
So what does that mean?
 
“If the school is torn down, then the new one better be ready,” said Manchin with a laugh. “I’ve been continually assured by the contractor, who has kids that go to Johnson that everything will be fine. Beau (Henderson of City Construction) smiles and re-assures me every time I ask and, at this moment, everything is on time and on budget to do just that.”
 
Henderson said demolishing the building will be relatively easy. What takes time, he said, is removing the debris and maneuvering the equipment after the building comes down. He said the entire process could take a few months, which means not everything will be ready to go from the old school site.
 
That’s okay. School staff and administrators are resourceful to make any situation work short-term or even longer if necessary.
 
While having school as other details with the old site are finalized can be worked through, not having a new building ready if the old building is gone – as Manchin mentioned above – would create an entirely set of new circumstances. Manchin said he understands the community’s angst when they drive or walk past the construction site.
 
While the public still sees unfinished portions of the exterior, some unfinished windows and plenty of dirt and mud where there should be asphalt in a period four months from the school’s opening, things are actually progressing nicely.
 
“To give you an idea of what’s going on inside the building, we’re actually getting the furniture,” said Manchin. “There’s a lot of stuff you can’t see that would make people uneasy about the opening feel a lot easier about the process if they were inside from painting and carpeting to so many other things that will make the building complete.”
 
Even Clerk of the Work Neil Quinn commented Wednesday that things are in the final stages. He said items such as dry erase boards and other things that will placed up on the walls are already on their way.
 
Machin’s comments come with a little higher degree of credibility than most superintendents offering reassurance about the status of a project – and that isn’t a slap at other superintendents. Some know Manchin was the former head of the State School Building Authority and oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in school projects completed during his time.
 
“I can tell you that we were good with completion 99 percent of the time. Everyone understands the timelines and the contractors, in cases like this, know we have no building to go to once it’s gone,” said Manchin. “Once the old building is down is when we’re officially at the point of no return and we’re going to be there soon.”
 
The actual date for demo will likely be sometime after June 18 (or maybe even as early as June 11, but that’s still up in the air), which Manchin said is the last day for educators to be in the buildings. That means the wrecking ball will come soon after even though all the planning is set to begin in the next few weeks.
 
When Manchin told me that it was 99 percent of the time, I asked him if that meant there were projects not completed when the scheduled completion date arrived. He said it was the case twice that he can recall.
 
“We ended up putting the kids in another school just a block down the road in once case and one time we delayed opening a new school for a week. I don’t’ see that happening here. The progress reports we get are good and Beau just keeps saying ‘Doc, don’t worry.’ So I’m not worried,” he said.
 
Manchin did say that there could be items needing worked on after the building is open. However, he said it will, at worst, be “substantially complete” in early August.
 
While he’s confident about completion, the opening day, an open house and dedication that will be set and the aforementioned demolition, he’s not sure about what the space left from the existing Johnson Elementary will entail. That, too, is coming up for discussion and some items are critical to other parties that need to be determined.
 
“Definitely, there’s going to be additional parking. I also would like some green space, some trees and maybe a little walking track or something that’s pleasing for the community and can get some use by the school,” said Manchin. “We have to iron that out and we have to do that soon.”
 
One thing that was ironed out almost completely was that it appears that neither the new addition on the back of the school or the new library will be able to be salvaged for use. The back building is 100 percent out, while the library will be looked at to see if there is any chance it won’t be a huge problem with parking and aesthetically, both of which the architects and others will be the case.
 
“There’s a chance that it can be used by the high school for a weight room or something else, but it doesn’t look like it will happen. The architects are going to have to come back with something soon, and they know that, because the clock is ticking,” Manchin said.
 
The clock is indeed ticking. It’s ticking toward the end of the school year and the beginning of a new Johnson Elementary. And part of opening that new one is making sure it’s ready for students and the old one is a thing of the past.
 
Keep your eyes open. Business is about to really pick up along Johnson Avenue.
 
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Dr. Mark Manchin, middle, with BHS Principal Mark DeFazio, right and Johnson Elementary Assistant Principal Heather Holbert Wednesday in the JES Library. Second photo shows work being done by contractors, while Beau Henderson shows a classroom nearly ready to have furniture put in place and items hung on the walls in the third photo. In the fourth photo, Thom Worlledge of McKinley & Associates reviews plans during the Wednesday meeting, while contract work inside the cafeteria of the new JES is shown at the bottom.


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