Board eyes $5.5M for projects
New entrance for high school, additional classrooms proposed
New additions may be coming to Phoenixville Area High School that promise to beef up building security and add extra classroom space. The estimated total cost of the projects sits at approximately $5.5 million.
The school board will vote on whether to build a new entrance to the high school and purchase six permanent modular classrooms at its next meeting on April 20.
The estimated $1.5 million new school entrance promises to fortify security at the school, while the estimated $4 million classrooms look to help manage increasing enrollment. Due to a financial timing issue, the classrooms must be installed by 2019 at the latest.
“We’ve been talking for the last month or so about two situations for Phoenixville Area High
School,” Daniel Cushing, chairman of the board’s building and grounds committee, said at Thursday’s meeting. “And our schedule has us making a decision this month. Which means we’ll be voting on an item next (meeting).”
As the district has built new buildings and renovated older ones, it’s paid special attention to improving security in a variety of ways, he said. Currently the main entrance to the high school is the auditorium. Previously it was the cafeteria. Under the new project’s design, the goal is to create a $1.5 million two layered box outside adjacent to the auditorium, which could slow down a potential intruder.
Law enforcement agencies that have worked with the district over the years, both locally and nationally, have said the goal is about slowing people down, not stopping them, he said.
“We’re not building prisons; we’re building schools,” Cushing said. “We’ll never be able to completely protect, but we’ll be able to slow.”
The two layer entrance contains a secured locked layer where visitors are greeted and then a second layer which enters into the school. The design is the same as what’s being installed at the Phoenixville Area Early Learning Center and Manavon Elementary School, scheduled to open this fall.
About four weeks ago, the board building and ground committee saw five architect design options before settling on the $1.5 million box entrance outside the school, Cushing said. An $5.1 million alternative design which modified entrances and the driveway and created new parking was a favorite among some of the board members, but many said they believed the design to be too expensive and contained desires for the school instead of needs.
“How much money are we willing to spend to add a level of protection we know we need?” Cushing said.
Superintendent Alan Fegley said he would be in touch with police and have them review the designs for the entrance to make sure it is getting to the need of the school. As for the building’s other doors, “they have been and are being addressed,” he said without
going into further detail.
The second point of discussion was increasing instructional space to accommodate an increase in enrollment. The addition of six permanent prefabricated modular classrooms added to a courtyard next to the library near the school’s science wing. The modular buildings have a life expectancy of about 40 years, according to Stan Johnson, executive director of operations. They are built offsite and dropped into place by a crane.
The estimated cost to the district is $4 million if the classrooms are installed by 2019 or sooner. The goal is to install the classrooms in the summer of 2018.
“I just want to make it clear this is a need, not a want,” said board member Renee Pfender. “If we can save money by starting now — costs will continue to go up, interest rates will continue to go up- and maybe get some synergies by starting both of these projects at the same time, I’d like us to start now.”
“It’s not that we’re not going to see the enrollment,” she continued. “We know we’re going to see the enrollment and we’re going to be out of space at the high school.”