Construction projects abound at South Hills schools
One building is gone. Another is on its way out. And the street that cuts through the middle of the Mt. Lebanon High School campus still looks predominantly like a construction zone.
Work continued throughout the summer, but after more than three years, the school’s $109 million-plus renovation project is heading into the home stretch, with everything expected to wrapped up a year from now.
While Mt. Lebanon continued work this summer, two other school districts started renovation projects, with elementary schools in Bethel Park and Peters Township receiving upgrades. And in South Fayette Township, plans are moving forward to add much-needed space to the high school.
Changes to Mt. Lebanon High School’s exterior will be evident as students report Monday for the first day of classes. During their vacation came the demolition of the campus’ “A” building off of Lebanon Avenue and the start of the dismantling of the “C” building, which once housed district administrative offices. Meanwhile, Horsman Drive, running between the school’s new science wing and athletic building – an overhead walkway connects the two – is taking shape as what will become a central drop-off point.
The interior, meanwhile, is what planners and architects envisioned of a logically configured facility that creates a welcoming atmosphere by letting in plenty of natural light throughout. A highlight is the two-story center court.
“It’s really the student hub, the student union, for the new high school,” said Cissy Bowman, district spokeswoman.
Nearby are the school auditorium and fine arts theater, both of which underwent substantial renovation, including new seat covers, sound systems and curtains.
“They’re just beautiful performance spaces,” Bowman said.
Members of the community will have the opportunity to see those and other changes to the school during a dedication ceremony and open house scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 11.
While Bethel Park residents have had a few years to get used to their community’s new high school, the district continues to provide facelifts for its other buildings. This summer was the turn of Washington Elementary School, with a $3.3 million project primarily addressing the building’s temperature-control systems and other improvements to the interior.
“When the kids come back to school, mostly everything will have been completed with the exception of the gym floor, which will be installed in mid-September,” Vicki Flotta, district spokeswoman, said. “It will take approximately five days to install the new floor, and classes will either be held outside, weather permitting, or temporarily moved to the cafeteria.”
Students will find themselves moving around somewhat at Peters Township’s McMurray Elementary School, where a $5.6 million improvement project started as soon as classes let out in June and is projected to wrap up next summer.
The school has been set up with a “swing space,” district spokeswoman Shelly Belcher explained, into which students from five or six classrooms at a time will move for stretches of about a month, while work is taking place on their rooms.
“A lot of work went into the planning of this, so that it will go as smoothly as possible throughout the school year,” she said.
The project includes upgrades to the building’s heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems, and the electrical system, along with new windows, gutters and downspouts. Wireless connectivity also is being improved, to accommodate the new Sharp Aquos interactive display system for classroom use.
Classroom space is at a premium in South Fayette School District, where enrollment has grown by more than 40 percent in the past decade. As such, the district is proceeding with expansion to the high school, at an announced cost of $34 million.
On Aug. 12, township supervisors approved the land development/site plan and conditional use for the expansion, with plans calling for five new areas: a fine arts addition, academic addition, innovation and creativity wing addition and two new classroom wing additions.
The high school opened in 2003, and by 2004-05, its enrollment was 548, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The number of students now is about 800, and a Carnegie Mellon University study projected as many as 1,068 by 2023.