A major renovation of North Penn High School is on the horizon, with the possibility of bringing freshmen to the 550,000-square-foot campus on Valley Forge Road and relocating the transportation facilities off-campus, and a contract on the redevelopment is expected to be signed by the end of April.
Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer and district Administrator for Secondary Education and Renovation Pete Nicholson started up conversations with the North Penn School Board Tuesday night on the master plan for high school renovations and beyond. Thus far, the district has had substantive conversations back in 2018 about a new ninth grade center, and completed a community survey, held forums, and met numerous times with the Facilities and Operations Department.
But, in the wake of the pandemic, Bauer said things have changed financially and from a construction aspect.
“We have to start the conversation of what needs to be done,” Bauer said.
Next month, the board will hold a work session where financial information will be presented and discussed, design options will be presented by project architecture firm SCHRADERGROUP, and project feasibility will be highlighted by the district finance department.
“We will discuss a vision for what North Penn High School can and should look like, its current status and having ninth grade on a (ninth-to-12th-grade) campus,” Bauer said. “People have asked me in the community or in stakeholder groups what the design will look like. There is no design yet. There is no project yet. We’re not there.”
North Penn High School is the only high school in the county that does not have ninth graders in its building. Bauer said district administrators have toured area high schools to obtain ideas and concepts for North Penn, which still uses the same HVAC system and lighting first installed in 1971. Over its 50-plus-year history, North Penn High School underwent a major renovation in 1999 with the addition of K-Pod and the natatorium (pool) was renovated in 2005. A senior cafeteria was added in 1998.
Back in 2019, the board held a public forum where it was announced that four facilities renovations could out the district $515 million in debt. At that time, it was estimated that a ninth-grade center addition to the high school would cost $71.6 million, and high school renovations were estimated at $163.3 million. At that time, former Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich said that fixing Penndale Middle School could cost upwards of $70 million, but if the ninth-grade addition to the high school was approved, the district may be able to close Penndale and go to a grade seven-through-eight alignment at Pennfield and Pennbrook middle schools to save money.
The design proposal that was shown was a 200,000-square-foot addition to the high school, that could both serve as a segregated ninth grade center or be fully integrated into the high school via a nine-through-12 alignment. In either case, the addition would share facilities such as the cafeteria and medical with the rest of the school, but it would also have its own administration in the segregated proposal.
At present, there are about 3,191 students at the high school, with an additional 120 to 150 ninth-grade students who opt to or need to take various courses only offered at the high school. The board could consider a K-6, 7-9, 10-12 configuration, a K-6, 7-8, 9-12 configuration, or a K-5, 6-8, 9-12 grade configuration, Bauer said.
Bauer said Tuesday night that current concepts at renovated high schools include flexible open learning spaces and collaborative spaces.
“In December 2021, we started sitting down with SCHRADERGROUP again, and talk about what spaces we need, and planning, how many English classrooms we need, how many engineering labs, chemistry labs, physics labs, and get an estimate on how much space is required and how we drive those cost estimates,” Bauer said.
SCHRADERGROUP Architecture and Planning was awarded a $129,000 master planning contract for the high school back in June 2021. David Schrader appeared at the meeting Tuesday to touch on the challenges faced with education in the 21st Century.
“As high schools have evolved, the concept has gone to an idea of learning anytime, anywhere,” Schrader said. “We have to look at flexibility and multi-use of spaces and the adaptability of those spaces as time goes on.”
These days, he said, as is the case at Upper Merion High School, cafeterias are a thing of the past. Now, students use common space in a college facility atmosphere multiple times a day that allows adjacent access to the gym, natatorium, counseling complexes and a media center.
“Jonathan Bauer, the principal in that building, instituted a new concept opening the flexibility and freedom of students called Lunch and Learns. During two two-hour food service times, not lunch times, the students have the ability to go wherever they want with their lunch and do whatever they want with their education.”
North Penn High School could be outfitted with technological advances and better aesthetics, like a gym with a second-floor indoor track, or a workout facility that can be used by the community as well as students and staff. Some schools offer coffeeshops in their buildings.
The district compiled a capital project matrix for renovations, on a scale of 1 to 5, with the lowest for no safety hazard, excellent physical condition, and no disruption to education, and the highest for unsafe hazards that require immediate attention, critical physical conditions and critical educational impacts that would require closing the school.
At present, $114,536,020 is budgeted within the plan, and of that, $77.6 million in renovations is estimated at an average score of 3.0 or higher on the matrix. An additional $20.2 million is estimated at an average score of 2.5 to 3.0.
The district has identified projects at a Level 5 educational impact including $31.6 million for new HVAC system and piping, $5.05 million for HVAC controls, $2.52 million for boilers, and $12.6 million for electric switchgear and panels.
As of 2019, there have been 17 failures at North Penn High School resulting in $1.35 million in repairs, according to Nicholson. This included a C-Pod electric cable failure at $12,350, a natatorium roof replacement at $619,400, a senior cafeteria rooftop unit failure of $436,000, and an E-Pod elevator failure at $19,700.
“The original structure has not been renovated for 52 years,” said Bauer, adding that heavy rainfalls bring a “waterfall” into K-Pod due to structural deterioration. “The HVAC system is the same pneumatic systems from the Apollo era.”
Nicholson said the discussion must occur on how to move forward with a ninth-grade solution. At present, there are limitations of ninth grade in the three middle schools. These limitations, he said, include the lack of ability to participate in curricular activities, delayed opportunities for students in the Engineering Academy and Community Hosted Internship Program (CHIP), and the lack of ability to participate in extracurricular activities such as student leadership opportunities that are limited to upperclassmen and participation in school dances and athletic events.
“There’s no chance to be a part of the culture and climate and grow and lead here at the high school,” Nicholson said.
Data compiled in a September 2022 strategic planning survey of 1,800 respondents – of which 190 respondents were ninth graders – showed 13% of freshmen reported they participated in advanced coursework in the last school year, and that 64% said they would have taken advanced courses at the high school if they were at the high school campus. About 41% of last year’s ninth graders were interested in enrolling in career and education courses at the high school.
A recent enrollment study estimates an increase of 846 students over the next decade, Nicholson said.
The district is also looking into the future and feasibility of its 50 modular units, which were first constructed in 1988 at Gwyn-Nor Elementary and last completed in 1997 at Nash and North Wales elementaries.
“The district would be shortsighted not to have conversations about modulars,” Nicholson said.
“Those temporary modulars at Gwyn-Nor Elementary were there when (district solicitor) little Kyle Somers was a student at Gwyn-Nor Elementary School,” Bauer joked.
Furthermore, the relocation of the transportation department to another location is a huge possibility.
“If the ninth-grade center is an addition we are looking to move forward with, we would need space for potential parking and fields, and regain some of that space for student participation for parking so we can include flex spaces,” Nicholson said.
Facilities Director Tom Schneider said transportation has expanded quite a bit, and the offices are cramped at present.
“The bays right now don’t fit our new buses,” he said. “The buses are a little longer than what they used to be.”
Even the Educational Services Center (ESC) – the headquarters for the district at Hancock Street and Church Road in the former Hancock Street Elementary School – would need to undergo major renovations.
“If you’re in (the meeting room) now, you realize it is 36 degrees outside and 85 degrees in here,” Nicholson said. “The ESC is in badly need of renovation and work as well, and we can incorporate it into this project, or as a separate project.”
Bauer said if the transportation center and ESC are not relocated, then there are in dire need of renovations, adding there is no ventilation in the meeting room.
Nicholson said the district also needs to decide on grade configuration.
“The building is tired,” Nicholson said. “Our system is tired and it’s certainly time.”
Board Director Cathy Wesley said she wanted data on the benefits of moving the sixth grade up to the middle school level. Bauer said the most typical structure is K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
“Over 95% of high schools in the country are 9-12,” Bauer said.
Wesley added she wants the district to look into being environmentally sound and environmental stewards when it comes to efficiencies and energy costs in the new building.
Board Director Jonathan Kassa said the repairs and failures have been kicked down the road and now the community has to make decisions as to the top priorities for the next 50 years.
”Part of that is making sure we have quality work and quality workmanship,” Kassa said.
Board Vice President Christian Fusco said the master plan is not just about a building, it is about “a whole re-envisioning for secondary programming at North Penn.”
“We are updating facilities that are 50 years old, designed for 20th Century education, that are utilized 20 years into the 21st Century,” Fusco said. “We have to do better by children and the students in the community.”
See also:
North Penn Thespian Troupe Hosting Benefit Gala and Silent Auction Friday Night
Kindergarten Registration Now Open for the North Penn School District
North Penn School District Hosting Annual Black History Oratorical Competition
State Auditor General Alleges North Penn Among 12 Districts to Use Legal Loophole to Raise Taxes
North Penn School District Appoints New Hatfield Elementary School Principal
