Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
New grade school coming for WCASD
WEST WHITELAND >> The West Chester Area School District Board of Directors approved $23.6 million in construction contracts for the district’s 11th elementary school, at Monday’s meeting.
Construction of the Greystone Elementary School is expected to begin in mid-October. Not coincidentally, 598 homes, which will add students to the district student population, are under construction at the nearby, historic Greystone Estate.
Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon said that the district has absorbed about 700 students during the last four years and expects an additional 700 students during the next four to five years.
The two-story, 80,000 square foot school will be located at the intersection of Route 100 and Greenhill Road behind the Wawa in West Goshen. The school will accommodate about 588 students, and is expected to be completed by August 2021.
The new school will house 24 classrooms, or four classrooms for each grade, from kindergarten through fifth grades. The school will host a band room, music room, library, art room and special education classroom.
The operating cost will run between $3 and $4 million annually. The district has set aside about $3 million over the past two years so that a big spike for taxpayers doesn’t occur when the school opens, Scanlon said.
The district secured funding for the project through a $40 million general obligation bond sale, with interest rates below 2 percent. The proceeds of this bond will be used to pay the construction costs associated with Greystone Elementary School as well as for continued renovations in the district’s other elementary schools, according to a letter sent to district parents by superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon.
“The Board also approved criteria to be used during the redistricting process that will be necessary because of the new school,” reads the Scanlon letter. “Next month we’ll send information to our community as we begin selecting committee members to help with creating attendance boundaries for the new school.
“We’ll have to open a school with kids in it, in a brand new building,” Scanlon said. “It’s another project on the plate.”
Scanlon: “We will maintain our current middle and high school feeder patterns (Fugett Middle to East High, Peirce Middle to Henderson High, Stetson Middle to Rustin High), will work to maintain diverse populations in our schools, will develop transition plans, and will do our best to move as few students as possible.
“We expect to have a plan presented to our school board by June 2020, however the full implementation of the plan will not take place until the building opens in fall, 2021.”
“The board and administration have been working hard to address the space needs for the projected enrollment growth in our district due to the increase in new housing construction,” Gary Bevilacqua, board member and chair of the Property and Finance committee, said. “The construction of Greystone Elementary School is the cornerstone of our plan to provide the necessary space for our elementary students.”
The board approved the following construction
bids, totaling $23,595,770.
Sha-Nic, Inc. $10,490,000.00 (General);
Watts Services $3,500,000.00 (Site Construction);
JBM Mechanical $3,388,000.00 (Mechanical);
The Farfield Company $2,838,000.00 (Electrical);
Garland Roofing Systems - $1,966,988 (Roofing);
Vision Mechanical $963,282.00 (Plumbing);
Guy M. Cooper $449,500.00 (Sprinkler).
“On August 27, the district secured funding for the project through a competitive general obligation bond (GOB) sale. The interest rate received on the $40
million GOB is the lowest overall yield the district has received on new money in the history of the district’s financings,” reads a district press release. “The proceeds of this bond will be used to pay not only the construction costs associated with Greystone Elementary School but will also be used to continue renovations plans approved for other elementary schools in the district.
“We are excited about the design and functionality of Greystone Elementary School,” Kevin Campbell, director of facilities and operations/ “It will relieve space concerns at our existing ten elementary schools.”