Mar 22, 2020 3 min read

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Harry Funk/The Almanac

Harry Funk/The Almanac

A worker walks along the façade of the new Peters Township High School Tuesday.

Harry Funk/The Almanac

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Harry Funk/The Almanac

A piece of heavy equipment makes its way through the construction site Tuesday.

Harry Funk/The Almanac

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Harry Funk/The Almanac

The academic wing of the new high school, as viewed from Center Church Road

Harry Funk/The Almanac

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Work continues for now at the construction site of the new Peters Township High School.

“We had a full crew today,” Roshelle Fennell of Reynolds Construction LLC, the construction management firm for the project, reported during Monday’s school board meeting. “I think we will know in the next couple of days how it’s going to affect the job, but we’ve told the contractors at this point, it’s work as usual.”

Harry Funk/The Almanac

As project manager for Reynolds, Fennell generally provides monthly updates for the board. She did so for the latest meeting by telephone.

“The building is large enough, really, for them to be spread out,” she said regarding construction workers. “So it’s not like we’re congregated in one area.”

Solicitor Jocelyn Kramer advised because the complex is under construction and not open to the public, it is not subject to Gov. Tom Wolf’s mandatory closing of all schools through March 27 in attempts to impede the spread of the COVID-19 pathogen.

The schedule calls for the project to be completed in late October, and for students and staff members to move into the new school at the start of 2021. The current high school then is to be converted for use as the district’s middle school.

During Monday’s meeting, board member Rolf Briegel asked for more information pertaining to a statement in Reynolds’ progress report: “The administration area is the main area that needs to get moving in order to meet our target completion date.”

Fennell said work on underground plumbing and electrical wiring for the area was to begin the following day, and a concrete slab should be poured within the next few weeks, allowing for contractors to start installing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.

Harry Funk/The Almanac

“That area is starting to move, and I think that once we get into a routine and a flow in that area, it will actually go pretty quickly,” she said, noting general contractor Nello Construction Co. has been given notice. “If time is needed by another contractor to make up some of the lost time, they will be authorized overtime to do that.”

Also related to the new high school, the board Monday approved a change order for $3,993 to provide additional electrical outlets and data outlets for the informational technology office.

School district business manager Brad Rau explained why the additional cost was “owner-requested.”

“It seemed to be a miscommunication during the design,” he said, noting the original intent was a much smaller room. “There was no expectation that would be an actual office for somebody who was in the building as the technology person. Once that was identified, as the owner, we had to make the recommendation to increase the number of outlets so that could turn what was designed as a data closet into a technician’s office.”

The board also voted to transfer property to the state Department of Transportation for the redesigned East McMurray Road, which is to be relocated slightly to the north to allow nearby residents ease in accessing their driveways. Peters Township Council approved a similar measure March 9.

An amendment to the school board’s vote makes it “subject to a legal description prepared by the solicitor’s office,” as recommended by board member Rebecca Bowman. Materials provided by PennDOT, she pointed out, included only a three-page drawing of the applicable property.

Harry Funk/The Almanac