Air conditioning talk brings a little heat
District officials discuss adding AC to 3 middle schools
LANSDALE >> With a new school year now underway, and kids back in classrooms, North Penn officials are resuming a discussion that began pre-pandemic.
How should the district tackle the question of adding air conditioning to the three middle schools that currently don’t have it?
“Back in 2016, there was an estimate provided by an architect for air conditioning in the middle schools, and also Gwyn-Nor, Knapp, and Oak Park” elementary schools, said district director of Facilities and Operations Tom Schneider.
“Gwyn-Nor and Oak Park had air conditioning installed, Knapp is currently under renovations, and then we had estimates for air conditioning at Pennbrook, Pennfield, and Penndale,” he said.
In 2016, early estimates from the architect were that installing air conditioning at all three schools would cost roughly $30 million, with Pennbrook estimated at $7.8 million, Pennfield estimated at $8.8 million, and
Penndale roughly $12.9 million, Schneider told the school board’s facilities and operations committee in late August.
“This air conditioning cost was only for the main building, and not doing anything to the existing modular classroom structures that are on Pennfield and Pennbrook,” he said.
Pennbrook currently has 22 modular classrooms and Pennfield 14, according to Schneider, and the roughly $30 million estimate does not include any new construction to add permanent classroom space.
“It would be an awful lot of expense to install air conditioning in those buildings, and then possibly, in the future, if there is renovation soon, eliminate the modular classroom structure, and turn it into permanent construction,” Schneider said.
“The air conditioning plant would have to be completely redone, basically removed and replaced,” he said.
In 2019 the district began public discussions that could also impact the future of those middle schools: whether to change the district’s grade level structure, and move ninth grade from the three middle schools to North Penn High School, a change that could leave the middle schools with only seventh and eighth grades, or prompt sixth grade to move from elementary to middle schools.
“We knew we would need to do the rest (of the high school) before ninth grade actually moves there,” said Superintendent Curt Dietrich.
“And then, once ninth grade is located at the high school — if that comes to fruition — then make a determination if we want to stick with K-through-six, and then seven-and-eight, or have a K-through-five and six-through-eight at the middle schools,” he said.
One other factor that would need to be further studied, Dietrich added: Could changing the grade levels mean one of the schools is no longer needed?
“Depending on the grade structure, we might not need Penndale. And then, if we don’t need Penndale, it just didn’t make a lot of sense to dump a lot of money into something that would either be sold or demolished,” he said.
Schneider added that the $30 million cost estimates from 2016 would likely be higher now due to construction material and labor shortages caused by COVID-19.
“We could possibly see a project cost reaching about $40 million in today’s dollars, with the way construction costs are today. It’s just something to keep in mind,” he said.
Board member Jonathan Kassa said those talks were partially what led the board to push staff to develop a ten-year capital plan of needed facilities upgrades, and approved upgrades to add air conditioning at Gwyn-Nor and Oak Park first, then the full Knapp renovation.
“It’s clear why we didn’t do Knapp, because of this full renovation. That same type of logic and approach then applies to the middle schools,” he said.
“That’s part of the issue that we brought up to the community as a whole: Are we going to renovate North Penn High School? And if that need exists, well then the rest of the priorities have to come in place,” Kassa said.
Kassa then asked Schneider for specifics on an equipment failure at the high school at the end of the 2020-21 schoolyear, and Schneier said a chiller in the school’s K-pod that was installed in 1996 had failed, and was replaced at a cost of roughly $165,000.
“That was unplanned — although it was on the list. We knew we’d have to get to it,” Kassa said.
Board members have approved upgrades to the modulars at Pennbrook, and a study of the needs within the high school which could spell out where to add the possible ninth grade center, Kassa added, all steps needed before any more major projects begin.
“That’s why we need to have this discussion. None of us are happy with the lack of air conditioning. There was no plan three years go. There’s a plan now,” he said.
Kassa then asked Dietrich if air conditioning could be installed sooner at the middle schools than a major renovation.
“It would be extremely difficult to be able to do this, in a way that is most cost-effective, if we piecemealed it and try to introduce the air conditioning now,” Dietrich said.
“It is extremely important that we go to the high school. In my opinion, the high school really has to be next — we are having some challenges with the pneumatics there, we had some challenges recently, it’s just an old, old system there,” he said.
Late August rainstorms caused roof drainage issues and penetration of water into the building envelope, he added, and any high school project must follow the grade-level discussion first.
“Do we want to stick with seven-and-eight? Or do we want to move to sixto-eight? It has a lot of ramifications, also, at the elementary level, in terms of program implications there. We also have modulars at some of our elementary schools,” which could also be phased out if students are moved to other schools, he said.
Student liaison Eric Wang asked if the district had a cost estimate to replace the modular classrooms with new construction. Schneider said no formal project has been bid or examined, but new construction runs roughly $250 to $300 per square foot, and Dietrich said a typical classroom of about 850 square feet would produce a cost of $250,000 to $300,000 per classroom.
“I anticipate we’re going to replace them with permanent construction, that’s been the direction this board has been steadfast on, but that’s rough math,” Dietrich said.
After the presentation and board discussion, two Republican candidates running for school board questioned the current board’s priorities.
“The ten-year facilities plan is great. I’d like to know where the stadium was on that plan, as far as the rating goes,” said candidate Jessie Bradica.
“Our tax dollars are in that capital reserve fund. This board had a $3 million budget surplus the first year that they were on the board. Then, in 2018-19, they raised the taxes above the Act 1 index to claim exceptions — which resulted, then, in another $3 million budget surplus. Which again went into the capital fund,” she said.
Board candidate Fred Froehlich added a comparison between the cost of the Crawford project and the early estimates for the middle schools.
“At minimum, Pennbrook should’ve been air conditioned before we had a stadium. It could’ve been done prior to the stadium,” he said.
“I was in Penndale, and it was 85-plus degrees the other day, when my daughter made her first entrance into the building. Imagine masks, 80-plus degree weather, and going to school every day for seven hours, nobody on this board would do it. None of our kids should have to do it,” Froehlich said.
Kassa added that he looked forward to ongoing discussions, but asked that the candidates keep campaign rhetoric out of the discussions.
“We need to deal with the air conditioning, but let’s not use that to exploit what the community has been going through, when this administration, our staff, and my fellow board colleagues are working very hard to serve this community as best we can, under the conditions,” Kassa said.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 27; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.