Principal Sharen Steele vividly recalls a 1996 renovation project that turned New York School into a construction zone inhabited by children.

“There were a lot of distractions,” she said Tuesday. “We had to walk on one side of the hallway because they had the ceilings opened up. I can remember thinking: Is this a school, or is this a mess?”

Her experience helps explain why the Lawrence school board wants to temporarily close New York and Cordley schools if they undergo renovation and expansion. About 370 students would be shuttled to other buildings until the dust settles.

Assuming voters approve the board’s $59 million bond issue April 1, $4.6 million will be spent on improvements at Cordley, 1837 Vt., and $3.3 million for upgrades at New York, 936 N.Y. The bond issue includes work at a dozen other schools in the district.

Board President Scott Morgan said it might be possible to speed construction at New York and Cordley if students at the schools were temporarily transferred to other buildings.

“It’s quicker, it’s safer and it’s cheaper — if we can do it,” Morgan said.

He has asked district staff to prepare a report on the idea before the bond vote.

During the one-year construction projects, Morgan said, New York students could attend East Heights School. Cordley students could go to Centennial School, he said.

All the students would transfer to the expanded buildings when projects were completed in 2005, he said.

The board’s intention is to stop using East Heights and Centennial as elementary schools. Current plans call for East Heights to be converted to an early-childhood center. Centennial would be closed.

Steele said uprooting students at New York and Cordley would create academic and social challenges for teachers and staff in the district.

¢ More stories, video, documents about the bond issue and the school closings debate

However, she said, moving ahead with the merger of the New York and East Heights communities as well as the Cordley and Centennial communities could be a plus.

“It would give us some time to bond,” said Steele, who favors the bond issue and consolidation.

Meanwhile, board members are still grappling with disposal of the defunct Grant School and the soon-to-close Riverside School.

Board members are scheduled to vote Feb. 10 on donating the Grant School building to Grant Township. Wrangling over legal language related to the ownership transfer prompted removal of the item from Monday’s board agenda.

Supt. Randy Weseman said the “minor technicality” would be resolved by lawyers for the district and township ahead of the board’s next meeting.

Grant, 1853 E. 1600 Road, was closed by the school board last year. The school’s students were transferred to Woodlawn School in North Lawrence.

On Monday, the school board voted 6-1 to seek sealed bids for Riverside School, 601 N. Iowa.

The board has agreed to close Riverside in May and split Riverside’s students between Deerfield and Pinckney schools.

It’s possible the sale could be completed within two months, Weseman said.