Sunday, April 11, 1999
Junior high ready to reopen after arson
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
HAMILTON — Wilson Junior High School will reopen Monday, three months after a fire gutted the music room and sent smoke billowing through the building.
It will be the first time since the Jan. 15 fire that the school's 860 students will be back in their own classrooms on a normal schedule. To accommodate the Wilson students while repairs were made, Hamilton High School was put on a split schedule.
Class periods were cut 10 minutes each with high school students going to class in the morning and Wilson students going in the afternoon. Monday, both schools will resume regular schedules.
“There will still be some construction going on in the rooms where the fire started,” said Robert Hancock, Hamilton Schools' treasurer. “We won't be able to use the band room or the science room above it. It will be another few weeks before those are ready.”
Tim Cummins, 17, of Hamilton has been charged as an adult with aggravated arson in connection with the fire. A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to juvenile charges of aggravated arson and other offenses. He has been sentenced to two years in a state juvenile detention facility.
Mr. Hancock said damage from the fire has exceeded $1.7 million. Most of it has been covered by insurance. This week, Mr. Hancock learned the Ohio Facilities Commission had approved a $30,000 grant through its Emergency Repair Program. It will cover the $5,000 insurance deductible plus some of the costs associated with bringing that section of the building up to city code.
The district has also received about $50,000 in donations since the fire and was awarded a $14,000 grant from General Mills to defray the costs of upgrading the science room.
“We are very appreciative to our community for their generosity,” Mr. Hancock said. “All this will do is bring it back to where it was before the fire. Wilson still needs additional classroom space and a bigger media center.”
Other needed projects at Wilson — and other buildings in the district — won't move forward unless voters approve a $45 million bond issue May 4. It includes money for safety issues, mechanical system upgrades, classroom additions and school improvements. Lists of repairs if the bond issue passes are posted outside each school.
Twice in 1997, voters rejected a three-part ballot issue that would have provided money to add classrooms, make repairs and provide operating funds. After the issue failed, the board cut $1.5 million from the budget and limited improvement projects to an emergency only basis.
“The donations won't fix the underlying problems throughout the district,” Mr. Hancock said. “We still have infrastructure needs. Our buildings are fairly old.”
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