KNAPP TIME
Elementary school addition is nearly complete
LANSDALE >> With work wrapping up on the North Penn School District’s Crawford Stadium renovation project, district officials heard an update on another longterm project.
A new wing of Knapp Elementary School is all but complete, with several change orders in the works for board approval next month.
“We maintain progress for the school opening on time, and that is a focus of ours on a daily basis,” said project construction manager Bill Slawter.
Construction began in June 2020 on a multi-year renovation
of the elementary school, with a new classroom wing to replace modular classrooms being built south of the school’s entrance, a new bus entrance driveway with access from Knapp Road, and upgrades to the school’s interior and utilities as classes rotate through the new wing.
On a recent visit to the school, newly poured sidewalks could be seen running along the property’s perimeter, with construction fencing surrounding the new wing and signs pointing visitors toward a new sidewalk and stairway. That sidewalk runs around the new wing to the school’s new bus canopy, which leads out to an as-yet-unpaved driveway still
surrounded by construction material. On the doors to the new entrance: printed fliers announcing that, per state guidelines, masks would not be required inside for those fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Slawter gave an update to the school board’s facilities and operations committee on June 28, reporting that the new wing which was just a shell of structural steel as recently as December is now nearly complete.
Asbestos abatement in one phase of the school was finished just last week, while abatement in another area is ongoing, and sidewalks running along Knapp and Valleybrook Roads are roughly 85 percent done. Drywall hanging and underground plumbing work remain ongoing, while new equipment for the school’s upgraded boiler room has begun to arrive for installation, and a new emergency generator has been installed, tested, and is now online. Concrete equipment pads for the boiler room equipment have been poured, and work on the school gym began once the schoolyear ended in midJune, Slawter told the committee.
Upcoming items are continued demolition and electrical and sprinkler work in the school gym, underground utility connections, painting of newly installed walls, and a change that those who drive or walk by the school, and its lawns that are surrounded with construction fencing, may notice.
“We’re looking to fence in basin number two: that is the smaller basin that is down along Valleybrook Road. That’ll enable us to move the construction fence much closer to the building, and open that grass area back up to the residents,” Slawter said.
Sidewalk installation should be finished over the next month, as should the installation of piping for the new boilers, and all demolition and underground work is scheduled “to be completed, 100 percent,” he said.
As of Monday night, the electrical work at the gym is running about three days behind schedule, but asbestos abatement is scheduled to finish roughly five days early in one phase of work, “and we’re probably going to be a week early on the second phase,” Slawter said. Several critical items have been identified over the past month, including problems with a storm water line in the front of the building.
One other visible change: At the corner of Knapp and Valleybrook, a street sign had to be relocated due to a conflict with the new sidewalks being installed there.
“Lansdale Borough provided us a new post, so we moved that outside of the sidewalks, and moved the sign from one pole to the other,” Slawter said.
Board member Cathy Wesley asked if Slawter could think of any other unforeseen issues that could arise in the next steps of work. Slawter said he could not, but cost allowances have been included in the bid contracts to cover those costs if they occur.
Slawter and district Director of Facilities and Operations Tom Schneider also presented a set of change orders for the committee to vote ahead to the board, at a net zero cost due to unit cost allowances already included in the project. Those change orders call for the installation of new visual display boards in classrooms in the new wing, a new vent on a window in one classroom, changes to the roller screens on one window due to a conflict, and relocation of a roof drain due to new HVAC equipment.
Committee chairman Jonathan Kassa added thanks to Slawter, Schneider and Wesley for vetting each requested change order thoroughly, before the committee voted them ahead for approval by the full board: “I appreciate this very tight ship you’re running.”
Board member Juliane Ramic added that, as a Knapp parent, she was glad to see the new sidewalks and crosswalk signs added to enhance safety for kids who walk to school — a request borough officials have made for almost a decade.
“I know that members of Lansdale borough council have wanted to see improvements on those sidewalks for quite some time,” she said.
“I drive past it quite often, and just seeing that progress, at the street level, has been really great to see.”
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on July 15 and the safe schools and facilities and operations committees meet at 5:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively on July 26; for more information visit www.NPenn. org.