Amity Primary Center building back in picture for Daniel Boone administrative offices

March 26--At this point, it's hard to predict where the Daniel Boone School District administrative offices will be for the 2014-15 school year.

The school board changed its collective mind again on the office move during Monday's meeting, opting to return to the original plan to put the offices in the former Amity Primary Center building.

Board member Suzanne Dungan was the swing vote in the 5-4 decision after voting the other way in February.

"I think it was the wrong decision on my part to vote to move it to the high school before," she said.

As a real estate agent, Dungan said the idea of keeping the building empty for potential leasing is valid, but not realistic given all the available office space in the area.

"It just isn't happening," she said. "I think that it's not viable for renting and we're making use of it this way."

The offices would go on the first floor of the building.

A portion of the building will be partially leased to River Rock Academy, an alternative-education program.

But there is plenty of space for that program to grow and still keep the Boone offices.

The administration office move has been more than a year in the works after the board decided to stop leasing space at the Matthew Brook building in Birdsboro.

That lease expires in June.

The board directed the administration three times to move the offices to the space at Amity, including by an official vote in January.

However, in February the board voted 5-4 to instead move the offices to the high school.

The board members who support moving the offices to the high school feel their proposal took a different perspective than the one completed by the prior board last year.

The plan would split the offices throughout the high school, utilizing empty classrooms.

The main benefit, they said, is being able to lease out the entire Amity building and generate more revenue.

However, the board's facilities committee was told the move to the high school would cost at least $55,000 more.

The majority of those costs are $46,000 a year for an additional security guard, as suggested by the district's insurance provider.

Either way, Superintendent Marybeth Torchia said the flip-flopping on the issue will now likely cost the district more overall.

With spring sports starting up, there's no guarantee Ken Smith, buildings and grounds supervisor, and his crew will be able to do as much of the work themselves.

"If we had moved the administration to APC in January or February after the first vote was made, Ken and his men could have completed everything," Torchia said. "The momentum stopped once the decision was made to rescind the vote and place the administration at the high school."

Contact Stephanie Weaver: 610-371-5042 or [email protected].

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