Students get look at revamped high school
When Mt. Lebanon High School students were given access to all parts of the new $110 million high school in late March, it was the culmination of a process that started with the first community planning meeting in 2006.
After years of planning, designing, redesigning and construction, students now have a 454,817square-foot building in which all parts are either renovated or new construction.
The students are finding that the design of the new school makes it easier to take advantage of a number of academic and extracurricular opportunities.
The centerpiece of the renovated structure is the 700-seat, open-ceiling cafeteria — at the site of the former gymnasium — that has student academic and student activity areas arranged around it.
In addition, a nearby walkway connects the main building to the new athletic building that houses a main gym, two auxiliary gyms, an
eight-lane pool, fitness room and locker rooms.
That walkway runs over Horsman Drive near what will be the new main entrance to the school.
The building will have an official grand opening in the fall when all outside work is completed.
Principal Brian McFeeley said students have quickly transitioned to take advantage of the new design of the building, seeing how easy it is to eat lunch, then head to the student activities office or the high school newspaper or yearbook office to work on activities. They can also go to the nearby music area where they can rehearse in private, soundproof practice rooms or sit in on band, orchestra or chorus classes they can’t fit into their official school schedules.
“Before, the orchestra room was all the way on the far side. The walk was very long when you took lunch orchestra. Now it’s right in the middle of things,” said Zhao Ma, a senior violinist and orchestra member.
The original school was built in segments constructed between 1928 and 1972. It was made new during a three-year renovation, demolition and new construction project that started in January 2012.
The final product is the result of an exhaustive design process that involved numerous meetings with the community and other stakeholder groups and some lively discussions about exactly how high the final price tag should be.
Early price estimates ranged from about $103 million for repairs to about $158 million for all new construction. After a lengthy series of public discussions and redesigns, the board approved the current $110 million plan in 2009. It was financed with two bond issues.
One of the provisions of the plan was that students would not be placed in temporary surroundings such as trailers during the project.
As a result, students moved from section to section over the three years as work moved through the building. But school officials are quick to point out the upheaval did not affect students’ academic performance. The school’s School Performance Profile score was 99.5 in 2013 and 99.3 in 2014.
The new school holds state-of-the-art science and technology labs that partner nicely with the STEM Academy (science, technology, engineering and math) the district launched this year for freshman students. The academy will steer students interested in STEM careers through a series of courses during their high school years and also will provide them with outside activities such as field trips, summer camps, professional mentorship and job-shadowing, said Drew Haberberger, academy director.
Currently the program focuses on students interested in careers in medicine or engineering but may expand to include computer science.
“Along the way we will offer a lot of opportunities for them to learn about the careers available in those areas,” Mr. Haberberger said.
The new school has wireless service throughout, something that wasn’t possible because of the fragmented makeup of the old building. Every classroom has fiber optic lines that were installed in a way that will make technology upgrades in the future easy to accomplish, said Christopher Stengel, director of technology.
“The tack that we took was to get infrastructure that was flexible,” Mr. Stengel said.
The wireless service allows for broader use of portable technology.
One of the most popular areas of the new school is the cafeteria and its expanded food offerings.
“We started to use the new cafeteria March 23 and the first week it was kind of super busy. It was like ‘wow,’ they wanted to look at everything and see what foods were available,” said Tazeen Chowdry, director of food service.
In the first days, it took a while for students to move efficiently because there were so many new selections that include a deli counter, a pizza counter, a hot sandwich and fries area and a chef’s corner that alternates between offerings of Asian food and burrito bowls.
“The kids are going home and talking about it, and the parents are asking if they can come in and see it,” Ms. Chowdry said.