Renovation project hits stride
$58 million effort will run into 2023
Gov. Mifflin School District’s middle school and high schoolers for the start of a new school year were greeted by some big changes.
They might not be all that’s noticeable, but they’re the first steps in an overhaul of the Shillington campus that, when complete, will be impossible to miss.
The district this summer began phase one of a major $58 million construction project on the secondary campus, a property along East Lancaster Avenue that’s bisected by South Waverly Street. When finished in 2023, the project will add a new community center to the site and see both schools undergo major reconfigurations.
On Thursday, district officials led a tour of the ongoing project, explaining what has happened so far and sharing what’s still to come.
It comes together
While construction only began this summer, Mifflin’s secondary campus project started in 2017.
Both the middle and high school, each north of six decades old, were in need of work, superintendent Bill McKay said. The HVAC and other mechanical systems in each were at the ends of their lives, needing about $40 million in total upgrades.
That work, however, would not do anything to enhance or modernize the educational experience of students. So, district officials came up with an idea.
“We looked at it as an opportunity,” district spokesperson Melissa Fullerton said.
The district reached out to staff and the community, asking what kind of improvements they’d like to see on the campus.
The result was a plan to add to the “behind the walls” updates, modernizing classroom spaces and providing a new facility for student athletics and community activities.
The additions would only raise the price tag by $18 million.
Still, $58 million is a pretty big number. Fortunately, the stars aligned for the district is a way that the project will not require
a single cent in additional tax dollars.
McKay said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy pushed down interest rates to borrow money to historically low levels. The district was also able to refinance some existing debt to free up cash, as well as use some federal COVID relief funding for part of the project.
On top of that, COVID had taken a major hit on construction companies that allowed the district in 2020 to secure contracts at lower-the-normal costs. And, the district is applying for state grants that help cover upgrades for pedestrian routes, which the project includes.
“It was kind of like the perfect storm for us,” McKay said.
Phase one
The first phase of the project might not be glamorous, but it is important.
“There’s a lot of construction going on, but there aren’t a lot of ‘wow’ spaces,” McKay said. “That’s because that’s not what this phase is about.”
It includes the installation of new HVAC systems, other mechanical systems and lighting, and renovations of bathrooms, classrooms and other rooms.
The new HVAC systems will greatly increase the quality of the air inside the two buildings, said Garrett Lewis, vice president of business development for SiteLogIQ, the general contractor on the project.
The new systems will filter outdoor air coming into the building, and help to ensure that carbon dioxide levels indoors are about equal to the levels outside.
The plans for the HVAC upgrades, which go above and beyond minimum building codes, were put in place prior to the pandemic but ended up meeting new standards for mitigating the spread of diseases like COVID.
“And it’s not just COVID,” Rick Evans, president of SiteLogIQ, said. “It’s the flu, allergens. Anything that can impact cognitive learning.”
Evans said that in school buildings without updated HVAC systems carbon dioxide builds up inside, resulting in less oxygen and causing students to sometimes feel tired. Gov. Mifflin’s new systems will fix that.
“With this the quality of the air will be the same all day,” he said.
Evans said that other upgrades taking place in phase one address the goal of making the schools “safe, warm and dry.”
The community center
Phase two and three of the project will be a lot more noticeable than the first.
Phase two will begin next year and includes the building of a new community center along South Waverly Street in a grassy spot between the high school stadium and a turf practice field. It will include a gymnasium that will be used by students in both the middle and high school, as well as space for community use, classroom space, a weight room and and indoor track.
The new building is currently in the design and land-use approval phases.
“Yes, the community center will have gyms,” Fullerton said. “But it is also meant to address how the community uses our buildings.”
Fullerton said that the high school and middle school are each rather active during nonschool hours, playing host to things like community groups and youth sports teams. That will all be relocated to the new community center.
“Our unique location makes us the hub of the community,” McKay said.
Along with adding the new building, the project will also see improvements made to South Waverly Street. It will be made more pedestrian friendly, providing safe routes for students and community members to walk from the two schools to the community center.
The big changes
Once the new community center is up and running, major changes to the middle and high schools will take place.
That work is slated to begin in 2023 and include using the space where the current gyms and locker rooms are for other purposes.
Music areas will be expanded, cafeterias will be relocated and upgrades, modern classrooms will be built, a learning resource center will be created and the high school auditorium will be upgraded.
The changes will provide the district with a lot more space and learning areas able to meet the needs of the changing world of education, officials said.
Fullerton said teachers are already implementing new, cutting-edge programs and methods, but are limited by the spaces they currently have available.
“This is about catching our building up with what teachers and students are already doing,” she said.
For updates on Mifflin’s building project visit sites. google.com/gostangs.org/ governor-mifflin-buildingproj/home.