Quaker Valley school board members are new "homeowners" for the second time since March.Last week, school board members approved the $150,000 purchase of property at 706 Beaver St. in Leetsdale as administrators consider options to solve what they said has become a dangerous situation of parents dropping off students in front of the high school.The sale price does not include a real estate commission. The commission was not immediately known.In March the district purchased a home at 704 Beaver St. for $250,000.Drawings made public in March show plans for a parking lot with a designated on-campus student drop-off area that could be located next to the high school. School administrators said the area would allow drivers to unload passengers on campus and off the street.However, school officials and property owners at 700 Beaver St. — which sits adjacent to the high school — have not been able to reach an agreement. It is the last property remaining between the district's high school and the two recently acquired properties.Virginia Schneider, property owner at 700 Beaver St., and her daughter, Amy Arnold, have said school officials have not offered what they say their four parcels of land are worth. Neither side will say publicly what — if any — amount district officials have offered.In addition to approving buying a second home, school board members approved a traffic study that would cost up to about $24,000.School board President Jack Norris said officials with David E. Wooster and Associates began working earlier this month on a "good faith" agreement with the district.The plan has drawn the ire of Leetsdale residents who say the district is encroaching on their neighborhood.District Judge Bob Ford, who owns property near Quaker Valley High School, said options presented by school officials won't "guarantee safety."He and other residents have questioned the addition of parking lots in preliminary drawings.Board members said if traffic-study results show alternative options, they could sell the two purchased homes.In a paid advertisement in the May 10 edition of the Herald, Superintendent Joseph Clapper said the district is "not developing this plan for parking lots. The rationale for the expansion of our high school property is student safety."Results of the traffic study are expected to be released by fall, said Joseph Marrone, director of administrative services.
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