The Tyrone Area School has approved an agreement to allow St. Matthew Elementary School to use classrooms and other facilities in the Tyrone Area Elementary School building.
The move came about because St. Matthew’s Church and the St. Matthew school are undergoing a major renovation/addition project. Church officials looked at various options regarding where 40 to 45 students would attend classes during the project before deciding on working out an agreement with the school district..
Previously, Father Joseph Orr said, “Just about any place we want to send them is not going to meet code. What we need is a building that has an educational use occupancy. Most buildings do not carry that.”
At that point, the church’s options narrowed to using available classrooms at the Tyrone Area Elementary building or transporting students to Altoona Central Catholic.
Father Orr said the Altoona option would have created transportation concerns and the students would have been mixed in with other students from Altoona Central.
“At Tyrone, they will be taught by the St. Matthew teachers and have the same classmates,” said Orr. “We’re extremely pleased with the hospitality of the school (district) helping us out in this crisis.”
Tyrone Area School Superintendent Dr. William N. Miller said he had several discussions will Father Orr regarding the rental of class and office space at the district’s elementary school. Dr. Miller said the district has some classroom space available with the district’s fifth graders moving to the newly expanded middle school.
“If we can help St. Matthew’s – help our children in the community in any way – this is what we should do,” said Miller. “These are all our kids in the Tyrone Area School District and we would want to make the space available to them.”
He explained the district already leases some space to other entities such as Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8. He said the administration felt this proposal was no different. Dr. Miller indicated the rental costs to the church would be similar to what IU-8 is charged.
The agreement with the school district allows St. Matthew to rent classroom space, office space and other areas as needed at a cost of $3.97 per square foot.
Grant Hormell, the president of the St. Matthew School council and other school representatives were on hand at last week’s school board meeting.
During public comment, he said, “(We) express our support (and) our heartfelt appreciation for your efforts and demonstrated cooperative spirit.”
The renovation and addition project on the church grounds include the school, the church parish, expanded parking and other facilities. The work is being done between the church and the school and will include a gathering space, parish offices, daycare, a library and conference room and bathrooms.
Father Orr said that due to rising expenses the church had to “scale down the project by two-thirds.” As it is, the contract for the project came in at $2.35 million. The church had hoped to add more classrooms and address issues regarding the social hall, but those plans were tabled.
The current project is expected to last until next summer and the St. Matthew agreement with the school district covers the 2006-07 school year.
Previously, the main church facility had been renovated with that project having been completed in 2002.
