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Legality of NCST contract questioned

A 27-foot vertical sign for the New Castle School of Trades dangles from a crane on Tuesday morning as workers prepare to install it on the southeast corner of the former Ogilvie's Department Store, 129 E. Fifth St. The sign has illuminated letters. (Photo by Stephen Huba)

 

EAST LIVERPOOL – With the ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the New Castle School of Trades slightly more than two weeks away, the board of education is questioning the contract between the two entities.

A contract was approved Sept. 24, 2015 between NCST and the city school district, allowing the Pennsylvania-based trade school to use property behind the Westgate complex for the truck driver training portion of its vocational program.

In exchange, NCST agreed to provide five high school seniors chosen by the district with half tuition-free enrollment in the vocational school, including their books and tools.

The agreement was approved unanimously by the school board with Robert Estell absent.

During this week’s board meeting, member Richard Wolf questioned the legality of the contract, saying that, while “progress is not a negative thing, nor should it be, the contract with (NCST) is a negative thing.”

Wolf said the contract refers to “vacant” property when it is, in fact, referring to a 90-foot by 40-foot blacktopped basketball court that is in use behind the school.

He said the board has a right to terminate the contract if it is determined the premises are needed for school purposes, and said he feels the agreement is “in error,” also complaining that NCST removed the large light poles at the court.

Wolf questioned whether the agreement is legal and binding, and made a motion to ask the city law director to offer a legal opinion on whether or not the agreement is valid.

Board President Larry Walton questioned whether it would be a conflict of interest for the law director to handle the matter since he also represents the city, but Wolf noted the contract is not between the city and NCST.

While saying she is not opposed to having the law director look at the contract, board member Sarah Porter said, “I think we need to talk to NCST (officials). This lease is going to benefit our students in some way. I am upset about the basketball court.”

Wolf responded that, having lived in the city all his life, “I’ve watched nothing but destruction of recreational facilities. I can take you through every neighborhood where there were once playgrounds and now they’re not. I get upset with the lack of concern with our young people.”

With member Bill Cowan absent, the board voted to seek the legal opinion.

Meanwhile, officials of NCST said the plan has always been to relocate the basketball court, which has been reported in the past.

“The intention was to relocate that basketball court,” President Rex Spaulding said Tuesday as he watched the new marquee be placed at the corner of the NCST building at the corner of Washington and Fifth streets.

“We need that space (behind Westgate) in order to offer truck driving. We went through all the proper channels at the time. It was their school board and their attorneys who drew it up,” Spaulding said of the agreement between NCST and the school district.

City Service-Safety Director Brian Allen agreed, saying he was on the board when the agreement was approved and – although the contract does not specifically mention the basketball court – NCST had agreed to purchase new poles so a basketball court could be installed anywhere in the city.

Allen pointed out that, while on school property, the lighting at the basketball court was paid for by the city, while the Fraternal Order of Police paid for the backboards and poles.

Since the agreement with NCST, Allen said, the city has installed lights at the Fulmer Park Playground where there is a full basketball court where players can now get out of the weather in a pavilion.

In addition, lights have been installed at the court in East End near the former East Junior High and NCST is buying a set of new poles that may go to the East End court or another one, Allen said.

“There are plenty of courts available,” according to Allen, who pointed out the importance to city students of the five scholarships being offered by NCST as part of the agreement.

“That’s very valuable,” he noted.

“It’s (NCST’s) property at this point. The property was leased to them to develop,” Allen concluded.

More than $7.2 million has been spent by NCST renovating two formerly vacant downtown buildings for the new vocational school, for which the ribbon cutting is set Nov. 11.

The date on which students will actually begin classes is not yet known, according to Spaulding, who said they are awaiting finalization of regulatory approvals before announcing a start-up date.

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