FOCUS ON FACILITIES — The possible relocation of Brooke County Schools’ alternative learning center and the creation of an artificial turf softball field for Brooke High School were among matters before the Brooke County Board of Education during Monday’s meeting. -- Warren Scott

WELLSBURG — Matters involving school facilities, including the possible relocation of the school district’s alternative learning center, were before the Brooke County Board of Education on Monday.

Board members also learned school officials have had trouble filling the welding instructor position in Brooke High School’s career technical department.

The board agreed to seek bids for renovations, including additions and door installations, that would allow the ALC, also known as Bruin Bridge, to be moved to the high school from the former Wellsburg Middle School.

Deputy Superintendent Corey Murphy, who stood in for Superintendent Jeff Crook for Monday’s meeting, confirmed there’s a potential buyer for the building but said he has very little information about it.

The middle school, which had been Wellsburg High School, was among five schools that were closed under a previous administration in 2018.

The others — Follansbee Middle School and L.B. Millsop, Colliers and Beech Bottom primary schools — were sold through public auctions.

Since then, the ALC has operated in Wellsburg Middle School, allowing school staff to offer an alternative approach to teaching students who were found not to adapt well to a traditional school setting.

The ALC previously operated at Brooke High School and in a doublewide trailer on a small lot on state Route 2 that also were sold at public auction.

The board had agreed to apply $650,010 from the sale toward artificial turf fields for the high school’s baseball and softball fields.

On Monday, the board authorized Field Turf to conduct site preparation surveys for the planned artificial turf softball field.

The Calhoun, Ga., firm was behind the $2.3 million installation of the high school’s artificial turf baseball field, which opened in May.

While that field was established at the same site as the grass ball field, plans call for the softball field to be relocated at a site further from a nearby creek that has more than once flooded it.

In other business, Murphy confirmed he continues to accept applications for a welding instructor for the high school’s career technical department.

The position has been vacant since the retirement of Larry Jones, who had held it for several years and oversaw the installation of new welding stations and equipment and the creation of the 5-feet-tall, 7-feet-long steel sculpture of the school’s Bruin mascot earlier this year.

Murphy said he’s hopeful the position can be filled, noting about 40 students were enrolled in it last year.

“It’s a very popular program,” he said.

Murphy noted most instructors in the career technical department come from the private sector, bringing experience they have gained in their respective fields, and aren’t certified teachers.

He said a teaching certificate isn’t required for those instructors, with new hires receiving the proper credentials following their hiring.

Following the meeting, Steve Mitchell, the school district’s supervisor of buildings and grounds, confirmed crews with Mansuetto Roofing of Wheeling have begun on replacement of the roof at Hooverson Heights Primary School.

The $430,000 project is expected to be completed this summer.

Mitchell said a pre-construction meeting will be held Thursday with representatives of Lombardi Development, which submitted the sole bid of $4.9 million to replace plumbing at the high school.

The project is slated to involve replacement of most of the plumbing that was in the school when it opened in 1969 as well as toilets, sinks, shower heads and other fixtures.

Because of the size of the project, it’s not expected to be fully completed for two years, but there are plans to limit it to specific areas of the building when school resumes.

In other business, the board also:

• Approved the hirings of Jeana Battista as a kindergarten teacher at Wellsburg Primary School and Aubrey Salvino as a special education instructor specializing in autism at Hooverson Heights Primary School.

• Accepted a bid of $38,410 for new entrance doors at Hooverson Heights Primary School.

• Approved the purchase of handwriting and spelling workbooks for primary and intermediate schools using about $26,117 in federal funds.

• Agreed to seek bids for two wrestling mats and carts.

• Announced its next meeting will be held at 5 p.m. July 14 at its office at 1201 Pleasant Ave.