School district voting will take place Tuesday, March 10, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ward I votes at Mt. Lebanon School, Ward II votes at the Methodist Church on School Street and Ward III votes at Lebanon College.

Lebanon -- It isn't exactly a house of horrors, but conditions at Lebanon Junior High School aren't ideal, either. A warren of cramped rooms and meandering corridors, with hissing radiators and drafty windows, the old building might be charitably described as eccentric.

The junior high was open to the public yesterday, and a few Lebanon residents dropped in to see it for themselves before Tuesday's vote on whether to replace it with new middle school.

The building proposal calls for a grade 5-8 school to be built on Route 4 at an estimated cost of $24.9 million.

“I want to make a good decision,” said resident Scott Almstrom, who came to tour the school.

Some of those opposed to building a new middle school believe that there's nothing wrong with the junior high as it is, or they favor renovating it.

District administrators insist that renovation isn't an option, not only because it would cost nearly as much as a new school, but also because the building is too small to accommodate about 300 seventh- and eighth-grade students.

Last summer, state education officials warned the school district that they would probably not grant approval for the junior high to reopen this year, because of numerous safety code violations and ways in which the building doesn't measure up to educational standards.

“I was sort of amazed when I came,” said Dick Wierwille, a West Lebanon resident and pastor of West Lebanon Congregational Church.

“I thought, I like old buildings -- let's renovate it.” But after touring the building, he said he was convinced that it has serious problems. “I think we're being held captive by an inadequate and marginally safe facility,” he said.

“To me it looks adequate, but I haven't seen it full of kids on a Monday morning,” Almstrom said.

When the building opened in 1926, it was laid out very differently than it is now.

Science classrooms now occupy what used to be a cafeteria with two-story arched windows. In the 1970s, the lofty cafeteria space was divided into two floors. The school library now occupies the second floor above the science classes.

There's no cafeteria now, so students eat lunch in their classrooms.

According to district officials, many classrooms in the junior high are much smaller than the minimum 900 square feet recommended by the state.

School Board Chairwoman Laura Dykstra pointed out a classroom in which the desks are crammed together with only about 12 inches between the rows.

“If you look how close the desks have to be, there's really no aisle,” she said.

In the school's small music room, an exposed radiator has safety gates shielding it.

“They have to put those there so the trombone players don't burn themselves,” said Jenn Wehner, a member of the booster organization Friends of Lebanon Schools.

The building proposal currently on the ballot will be the school district's third attempt at winning voter approval to build a new school to replace the junior high.

A proposal for a grade 6-8 middle school was defeated in October, falling 2 percent short of the 60 percent majority needed for it to pass.

But at the same time, voters approved spending $1.2 million to buy land on which to build a middle school.

That vote came after the first proposal to build a new school for the seventh and eighth grades failed to pass last March.

The district purchased the Route 4 property in November for just over $1 million. After purchasing the property, the school district was drawn into a legal dispute with a bank that refused to release existing mortgage liens on the property. The district got a court order forcing the bank to release the mortgages.

The mortgage releases were recorded in the Grafton County Registry of Deeds on March 3, giving the school district a clear title to the property.

According to Business Administrator Jim Fenn, state aid could cover 30 percent to 40 percent of the cost of the proposed grade 5-8 middle school. The district could receive an additional 3 percent if energy-saving measures were used in the building. The tax impact of the proposed middle school, without state aid, would add $1.21 per $1,000 of assessed value to the tax rate in the first year.

Fenn has estimated the tax impact, figuring in state aid. By his calculation, a Lebanon homeowner with a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $227 more in taxes in 2012, with that amount decreasing every year thereafter.

Tuesday's vote on the main school district budget will also determine whether a plan to consolidate elementary schools will happen this year.

If the proposed budget passes, then the consolidation plan will go forward. The School Board will delay the consolidation if the proposed budget does not pass.

The consolidation plan involves closing School Street School and Sacred Heart Public School and eliminating as many as 20 staff positions, including seven elementary school teachers.

According to Dykstra, most of the cuts would be achieved through retirements or by reassigning employees to other duties.

She said that no classroom teachers would be laid off.

With the closing of School Street and Sacred Heart, grades K-4 would be split between Mount Lebanon School and Hanover Street School, with children from two sides of the city going to whichever K-4 school was closer. Fifth and sixth grade would be taught at Seminary Hill School.

The transition would take place in time for the start of classes in the fall.

After the School Board announced this plan in early January, many parents and school staff spoke out against it, saying that it was too hasty.

In response to protests, the School Board decided to let the outcome of the ballot vote on the budget determine whether or not to consolidate the schools this year.

In effect, voting yes on the main budget (article 3 on the ballot) means voting yes to consolidate the schools this year.

Voting no on the main budget means voting no to the consolidation plan.

The proposed 2009-2010 budget totals about $32.7 million, which is actually a decrease of roughly $100,000 from the current budget.

A default budget of $33.6 million would be adopted if the proposed budget were to be voted down.

Either way, Lebanon residents would see a reduction in local school taxes.

The anticipated reduction under the proposed budget is 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and the default budget would result in a reduction of 10 cents per $1,000.

Voters also will cast ballots to elect School Board members on Tuesday. Ten candidates are vying for five School Board seats.

Three current School Board members, Jeff Peavey, Hank Tenney, and Beth White, are running unopposed for three-year terms.

In a contest for a two-year term, Susan Donnelly is running for re-election against Richard Ackerman, David Ashey and Janet Davis.

Incumbent Ellen Dijkman Dulkes is running for another one-year term against Chris Haidari and Al Patterson.