Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Pa. School Board Approves New Middle School

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/30/21

The school board of the Lebanon School District in Lebanon, Pa., recently approved the construction of a new facility for seventh- and eighth-graders, as well as renovations to an existing middle school building. The renovated middle school will house fifth- and sixth-graders once the new facility is complete. District Superintendent Arthur Abrom estimated the total cost of the project to be between $65 million and $70 million.

The project is part of a redevelopment program that has been in the works since 2006, according to local news sources. The decision to begin executing now came with the availability of federal stimulus money following the COVID-19 pandemic. The district will use $15 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds toward the construction, as well as $23 million in savings. It will still have to borrow about $30 million to cover the full cost. Due to the restrictions of ESSER funds, the construction must be finished and the building in use by Sept. 2024.

Currently, fifth-graders in the district attend elementary school, while sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders attend a single middle school. The new building will be constructed first and house middle-school students in grades 6–8. Once renovations to the second building are complete, fifth graders from the elementary school and sixth graders from the new facility will move there.

The dual construction project is intended to relieve overcrowding at the existing middle school. The school is at more than 100% capacity, and students have been moved into “modules” outside the building to account for the overflow. The district’s elementary schools are also at 98% capacity, and moving fifth-graders to a new building will free up classroom space there, as well.

Final plans and renderings of the facilities are still in progress. The new facility will share athletic facilities, parking amenities and possibly an auditorium with the existing high school.

The district has selected Beers and Hoffman Ltd as the project’s architect.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • FGCU Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has launched construction on a major new academic facility that leaders say will reshape healthcare education in Southwest Florida for decades to come, according to university news.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Universities Continue to Launch Multimillion-Dollar Campus Transformations

    What makes the current wave of campus development especially noteworthy is its emphasis on multi-use functionality and community integration. Institutions are no longer investing solely in academic or athletic facilities in isolation. Instead, they are creating destinations that blend recreation, health, housing, and event-driven economic activity.