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

  • Springfield Breaks Ground on $53.7M Pipkin Middle School Rebuild

    Construction is underway on a new, state-of-the-art Pipkin Middle School in Springfield, Mo., a major step in Springfield Public Schools’ (SPS) long-term facility improvement plan, according to local news. The $53.7-million project officially broke ground in early June, following years of planning and community input aimed at modernizing aging infrastructure and addressing student capacity concerns.

  • ProTeam Launches GoFit 6 HEPA Backpack Vacuum

    Technology leader Emerson recently introduced the new ProTeam GoFit 6 HEPA backpack vacuum, according to a news release. The vacuum was designed to capture 99.97% of particulates down to 0.3 microns—including atmospheric hazards like lead dust, mold spores, and other particulates—through an advanced filtration system.

  • California High School Starts Construction on New CTE Building

    Analy High School, part of the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) in Sebastopol, Calif., recently broke ground on a new Career Technical Education (CTE) Building, according to a news release. The 15,000-square-foot facility will offer specialized facilities for students in engineering, welding, culinary arts, agricultural sciences, and design thinking.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Introduces Claude for Education

    Anthropic has launched a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

Digital Edition