Candidates keep heat on in AC debate
Questions continue on middle school cooling needs
TOWAMENCIN » The debate is continuing about when and how to install air conditioning in the North Penn School District’s three middle schools.
School board members fielded several questions last Wednesday night on recent building projects, including air conditioning, from candidates currently running for the board.
“As we continue to have the discussion about the air conditioning in the middle schools, it’s not simply about the cost,” said board member Christian Fusco.
“We have a ten-year plan that’s trying to prioritize the needs of our entire secondary infrastructure: the high school, Crawford (Stadium), Penndale (Middle School), AC, all of it,” he said.
In the board’s Aug. 30 facilities and operations committee meeting, district staff gave an update on the ongoing study of air conditioning in middle schools, which has been studied since early 2016 as the district has also tackled AC upgrades at three elementary schools. At that time, district staff spelled out how any changes to Pennbrook, Penndale and Pennfield middle schools would likely be tied to two other projects: major renovations needed at North
Penn High School, and the possible construction of a new ninth grade center at the high school campus, which could result in grades being moved out of the middle schools.
In August, the board said discussions on those projects were still ongoing and no final decisions had yet been made, as the district awaits the result of a master plan study detailing future uses of the high school site. Republican candidates running for school board seats in November’s election raised several questions about that process in August, and continued to question the board’s priorities Wednesday night.
Candidate Jessie Bradica asked a series of questions based on the updates given at the August facilities and operations committee meeting, including why the board broke out a high school renovation
project separately from adding a new ninth grade center and studying the benefits of an on-site health clinic.
“With the addition of a ninth grade center, what is the plan to restructure grade levels and buildings? And what is the future of Penndale?” she said.
Would the board bid out air conditioning upgrades at each of the three middle schools separately, or combine them into one project? And would the board consider using roughly $10 million in unallocated federal
COVID relief funds to upgrade middle school HVAC systems, Bradica asked.
“Anybody who would like to understand the facilities plan, it is online, and you can see the three different costs for Penndale, for Pennbrook, and Pennfield air conditioning. Pennfield and Pennbrook are less expensive than an $8.2 million stadium, and that’s a fact,” she said.
Board member Al Roesch answered Bradica’s comments by adding that he had learned the middle school projects would likely require extensive rewiring of those schools, to modernize infrastructure 50 to 60 years old, and Fusco said any middle school project would need to address the grade level question first.
“We have ninth graders on three different locations, that are being bused to the main campus for the technical institute, for advanced academics, for athletics,” he said.
“It’s wasteful, money that we’re spending on buses. It is logistically a problem for the students. We have a plan. The ninth grade center gives us options: do we move sixth grade from the elementary schools into those buildings? And make our elementary schools K-through-five?” he said.
Building a new ninth grade center could create enough classroom space to remove modular classrooms currently in place at Pennfield and Pennbrook, Fusco said, and the roughly $30 million price tag from 2016 for the air conditioning could be much higher by now.
“It would be fiscally reckless at this point to start that infrastructure program by putting air conditioning into the middle schools. It would just not make sense,” he said.
“Our kids go to the same schools. My daughter came home complaining (about heat). We did not take air conditioning out of those buildings: we came here in 2017 with six buildings that had no AC, and at this point we’ve done three in four years,” he said.
Candidate Michael Kennedy replied by challenging that timeline.
“Wow. A ten-year plan to get air conditioning in our middle schools? I’m a Philadelphia school teacher. We have air conditioning in all of our schools. My building was built in 1910, and I have air conditioning,” he said. Several board members challenged that claim after the meeting ended, citing reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer indicating that most Philadelphia schools do not have air conditioning.
“You’re saying we should wait. How many kids are gonna go through Penndale, Pennbrook, and Pennfield, without air conditioning, before you guys figure out what to do?” Kennedy said.
“You absolutely could be putting air conditioning into those classrooms. The hallways might not be (air conditioned), but at least the learning environment would be welcoming for learning,” he said.
Between the two rounds of public comment, board facilities and operations committee chairman Jonathan Kassa summarized the talks in August, and encouraged interested residents to watch that presentation and read the news coverage afterwards.
“Highly suggest the community read those articles,” he said.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 27; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.