School officials say Griffith dragging feet
Accusing town of unnecessarily delaying Wadsworth School expansion
Griffith Public Schools officials are accusing the town of Griffith of unnecessarily delaying approval of an addition to Elsie Wadsworth School, which they claim will potentially cost the school corporation upwards of $1 million.
GPS plans to build a two-story addition to Wadsworth, 600 N. Jay Ave., which would feature 12 classrooms primarily dedicated to kindergarten and special needs students. Those students are currently housed in the main school building.
The Wadsworth addition price tag is approximately $10 million, to be funded through a school bond issue, GPS Superintendent Leah Dumezich said.
Project delays, increased costs
School officials planned to break ground on the Wadsworth addition in October and hoped to finish by August 2023, before the start of the 2023-24 school year. Because town officials have pushed back on the engineering plans GPS originally submitted, and continue to raise various issues associated with the project, the construction and move-in window is now lost, Dumezich said.
A core issue is the number of parking spaces required under town ordinance. Currently, there are 78 spaces at Wadsworth, 47 of which are occupied on a normal school day, according to Dumezich. GPS originally submitted plans to add 81 more
spaces, for a total of 159. However, town ordinance requires 215 spaces. Dumezich said she understands the requirement for 215 spaces as corresponding to the number of occupants on school property.
“Even though we’re building an addition, we’re not adding any more students or staff,” she said, explaining that the modular classrooms adjacent to the school building, which are currently dedicated to second grade students, will eventually be removed from the property.
Also problematic, says Dumezich, is that moving those classes will create a hardship for teachers, staff and students in transferring learning materials, decorations and desks into the main building at some point during the school year, rather than during the 2023 summer break as had been planned.
With the current plans for Wadsworth on hold, town officials requested that GPS seek a variance from the Griffith Board of Zoning Appeals — if they wanted to reduce the required number of parking spaces (215) by 56 spots. However, the board tabled action on the matter at its October meeting, further delaying the project.
Dumezich noted that the Griffith Plan Commission has yet to approve its revised site plan, and recommended it seek the variance from the BZA before proceeding further with the project review.
BZA President John Mowery said that October’s meeting was the first opportunity the board had to review the variance request and that more time for study was needed.
“I can see their point, and I can also see the point of the ordinance,” Mowery said. “We’ve got to look at what’s in everybody’s best interest.”
The BZA’s next meeting is 6 p.m. Monday at Town Hall.
In an effort to accommodate redlining of its plans, GPS’s engineering cost of the project has now doubled to approximately $80,000, Dumezich said. She estimated that new soil bearings, revised elevation readings and more asphalt would cost the school an extra $1 million to complete the project. She believes that the longer the project is delayed the more likely the cost of building materials and manpower will increase.
Dumezich said she didn’t understand the rationale for 215 spaces, reasoning that Wadsworth students are not old enough to drive cars. She believes that GPS’ willingness to add 81 more spots is a reasonable compromise.
“I expressed (to town officials) that it would look like Kmart parking lot if we had 215 spaces,” she said.
The impact on Cheever Park, local traffic
School officials are also concerned about the potential loss of green space as well as a number of mature oak trees the additional spots could swallow up — regarding the extra blacktop as a detriment to the aesthetic of Cheever Park located adjacent to school grounds.
Griffith Town Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, also a member of the Griffith Plan Commission, said the potential impact on the park was a concern of his as well.
“I don’t think we want to take down trees or disturb any green space,” he said. “Hopefully, everyone can work it out and put it to bed.”
School Board President Emily
Connor didn’t mince words in an interview with the Post-Tribune following the Griffith School Board meeting on Nov. 10. She blasted town officials for dealing unfairly with GPS, claiming that engineers consulting for the town are needlessly asking GPS for site plan revisions and exaggerating concerns about traffic along the school’s main entrance on Jay Street.
Among those engineers from Butler Fairman & Seufert (BS&S) Inc. of Indianapolis, who are involved in reviewing the Wadsworth project plans, is Jacob Ballah, son of Griffith Town Councilman Larry Ballah, R-2nd.
“When it benefits the town, they want to work with you,” Connor said. “When it doesn’t benefit the town, they don’t want to work with you. This process has dragged out unnecessarily for four months.”
Dumezich noted that she and Connor, along with members of their project team, have met with Jacob Ballah as well as fellow BF&S engineer Jake Dammarell and have tried to work things out.
“At the end of the day,” Dumezich said, “it’s within our best interests to work with the town of Griffith. But my first job is to do what’s best for our kids, and that’s what I will continue to do.”
Ryfa took issue with PSI, GPS’s project management company, saying, “Our engineers have been fairly consistent since March. They’ve (GPS) been deficient in their engineering plans. When they fix one part it affects another part though.”
Dumezich acknowledged that cars do accumulate on Jay Street during normal school pick up and drop off times. She said the traffic that lines up on Jay is usually only for 9-13 minutes, and that’s been the case since the school opened decades ago.
Dumezich noted that GPS considered building an entrance to Wadsworth on Elmer Street, but believes that traffic is already too congested with on-street parking associated with the popularity of the new pickleball and handball courts the town built at the south end of Cheever Park. She said she would welcome the temporary closure of Jay Street on school days, such as what the town does for St. Mary School on Lafayette Street.
School officials said they plan to attend the Griffith Town Council meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall.
Why does Wadsworth need an addition?
At the conclusion of the 201920 school year, due to declining student population and operational costs, GPS closed Ready Elementary, Dumezich said. At the time, she was not the school’s superintendent nor part of that decision. Subsequently, the Griffith YMCA leased Ready Elementary, 1345 N. Broad St., and moved operations from the former Franklin Elementary School, which had closed years early for essentially the same reasons.
“We’re building the new addition with a few extra classrooms to accommodate future growth,” Dumezich said.
Leasing Ready to the Griffith YMCA is a benefit to GPS and the community at large, as it houses the before and after school programs (open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Dumezich said. The Y pays the school district $5,000 to $6,000 a month to rent the building, and the lease agreement ends in 2025, she said.