A red-tailed hawk squawks while watching from atop North Penn High School. (Screenshot of NPTV video)
Aerial observer offers a bird's eye view of project
Some North Penn school officials may be monitoring the long-awaited high school construction project “like a hawk,” but they’re not alone. They’ve been joined this summer by an actual hawk, who can be seen keeping a watchful sharp eye on building progress.
“Keeping a watchful eye over all this hustle is our very own resident red-tailed hawk, often seen circling the skies above North Penn High School,” said district Coordinator of Communications Media Bob Gillmer in a video produced by the district’s NPTV channel and shown to the school board at a recent meeting.
A red-tailed hawk can be seen perched atop North Penn High School. (Photo by Dominic DiDio, courtesy of North Penn School District)“Staff have spotted the featured guardian soaring above the construction zone, almost as if giving its nod of approval to the district’s forward flight into the future,” he said.
Work kicked off in May on renovations to the high school, with work slated for this summer on the school’s natatorium, K-pod, and several improvements to the surrounding campus, the first in what’s anticipated to be a multi-year, $260 million renovation project running into the 2030s.
At the start of the school board’s July 17 meeting, Gillmer narrated over footage showing temporary classrooms being framed and installed inside the school’s auditorium, scaffolding set up inside the now-empty pool, and the hawk squawking as it soars above the outside of the school.
“As the hawk glides across campus, it might also spot facilities teams hard at work in every building,” doing their usual summer cleaning, repairs, and refurbishment ahead of students returning to school, Gillmer said, over video of those crews at work.
A red-tailed hawk sits next to a spotlight and HVAC equipment atop North Penn High School. (Screenshot of NPTV video)“While the hawk catches thermals overhead, our food service team is keeping things grounded,” Gillmer said, while showing video of the district nutrition department summer feeding program that provides meals to area kids at camps across the district.
“As the hawk’s wings stretch over the North Penn High School skylines, something looks a little different,” he added, before showing video from above of the former WNPV Radio towers just north of the high school collapsing onto the ground below, as the onetime radio station site is converted into a construction staging area .
“From maintenance to principals, coaches to custodians, all are hard at work, soaring toward another strong schoolyear,” he said, as the hawk took flight.
During the subsequent board meeting, several action items relating to the renovations were approved unanimously, including a change order deducting just over $3,300 from cost for the radio tower demolition, a contract amendment adding just under $8,300 to a contract surveying the ground around the transportation center adjacent to the school, and an addition by just over $33,000 for additional rock boring and infiltration study of basins on the campus.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Aug. 5 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on July 28; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
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