Traffic study forthcoming as district moves ahead with elementary expansion
Enrollment spike central to plan
The North Allegheny school board has taken steps toward an expansion of Franklin Elementary School.
The board hired The Gateway Engineers Inc. to do a traffic study of the roads around the school in Franklin Park. Residents have expressed concern about increased traffic on Rochester Road if the school in Franklin Park was doubled in size. The cost of the study is not to exceed $12,450.
Residents who spoke at the April 25 meeting urged the board to table the other items until the traffic study is complete. However, the board voted to move ahead with hiring a surveyor and construction manager for the expansion project, as well as the renovation of McKnight Elementary in McCandless.
McIlvreid, DiDiano & Mox will be paid $31,350 for the survey of both properties.
North Allegheny is considering the Franklin expansion because of growing enrollment in the northern end of the district. Franklin is the only elementary in that area that has room to expand.
Under the proposal, Franklin would expand to potentially have six classes in each grade, putting it on par with McKnight and Marshall Elementary as large elementary schools.
Massaro Construction Management will provide pre-construction services, bidding and construction oversight for $816,527 for the two schools.
If the board decides on a smaller expansion at Franklin after the traffic study, the cost will be adjusted.
Kerri Fultz presented the board with a petition containing more than 75 signatures, asking that the construction manager be delayed until the traffic study is done.
“There is a lot of concern about the traffic on Rochester Road,” she said. “There is a lot of congestion at the beginning and end of the day and a lot of near-miss accidents.”
Tripp Shubert asked the board to provide residents with the cost of a six-classroom-per-grade model, as well as more information about elementary enrollment.
He also suggested that the district build a new school instead, but ensure that all current Franklin students would remain in that building and not be sent to another.
James Bradley, supervisor of elementary education, said kindergarten registration for next year is already 38 students ahead of current enrollment, and most registrations come in during August.
The alternative to expansion is modular classrooms, and that is not safe, said administrators and board members.
Board member Andy Chomos said he was “taken aback” at the overcrowding in some elementary schools when he toured all buildings after being elected last year. “Sometimes, you have to just get out and visit some of these elementary schools to get an idea of the lack of capacity we have in this district,” he said.