Mon. May 6th, 2024

St. Matthew’s Church and the Tyrone Area School District have worked out a tentative plan to allow students at St. Matthew School to attend classes at Tyrone Area Elementary for the upcoming school year.
The church and school are undergoing a major renovation/addition project that got under way last month. Church officials have been looking at options regarding where 40 to 45 students would attend classes during the project.
In an interview last month, 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.”
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.”
Dr. Miller said the school board would officially review the plan in August. The board would have to approve the plan for it to be implemented. He explained the district already leases some space to other entities such as IU-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 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.
Previously, the main church facility had been renovated with that project having been completed in 2002.

By Rick