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Ohio County Schools Bond Project Work At Final Stage

WHEELING – It took more than five years and nearly $100 million, but the Ohio County Schools district-wide effort to improve all school properties is nearly complete.

Along the way the project also faced challenges from both the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues.

“Now we’re fine tuning – doing some interior and exterior doors at Elm Grove, Middle Creek, and Warwood (elementary schools), and updating some things in the kitchen at Bethlehem (Elementary School,)” said David Crumm, director of operations and transportation for Ohio County Schools. “That should pretty much wrap everything up.”

He explained paperwork to close out the projects also remains.

“And all of that will be finished by April,” Crumm added. “It’s exciting that Ohio County was able to support everything we’ve done for Ohio County Schools. All 14 schools (including the newly branded Warwood Elementary School) were touched by the bond work.”

He admitted the completion of the bond projects will be a relief, and that it will be nice to see all work finished. But building repairs and maintenance are never truly done, and Crumm sees more projects on the horizon.

“We have some roof work we’re going to be doing at Wheeling Park High School, and maybe some work on our metal roofs,” Crumm said. “It’s getting to be about that time that we’re looking at replacing some of those. And then we will continue our work with the ADA restrooms and that stuff.

“Buildings, they don’t get younger. There are always things you are always going to have to work on, tweak and take care of. We’ve got a good group of people at the operations center who get things done, and we work with businesses in the community (to complete projects.)”

Crumm also expressed gratitude to the voters of Ohio County Schools who approved the initial $42.2 million school bond in 2018.

This resulted in the West Virginia School Building Authority contributing another $27 million to the project.

“It was greatly appreciated. Without the bond passing, we probably couldn’t have got the SBA funds,” Crumm said.

Another $6.35 million was expected to be generated over a 15-year period through energy savings improvements made by the school district.

The COVID pandemic hit in 2020 while the construction project was in full mode, though work was able to continue for the most part during that time.

In the end, Ohio County Schools also received another $18 million through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) that was put toward school construction. The ESSER money was made possible through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Once school district contributions are factored in, the overall costs of the bond projects came close to $100 million, according to Crumm.

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