Marple Newtown School District

New Highschool
Update October 19, 2010! The Marple Newtown High School Renovation/Addition Project is moving along very nicely. Open now are our new cafeteria, the six classroom new addition, as well as the six renovated classrooms and two computer labs.

The new air handlers are up and running, as well as the units that were needed for existing spaces. All existing units were started up with new air filters.

Shortly this fall, we will open our new Family and Consumer Science classrooms, our new music wing, our new TV studio and large group instruction room.

After our winter break, we are scheduled to open our new library media center. The new counseling offices will open as the temporary main offices, while those offices are being renovated.

We will provide you with additional updates this school year as information becomes available.

Update August 19, 2010! The renovation continues at Marple Newtown High School. Students who are reporting for school on September 7, 2010 should expect to see some big changes in the high school construction process.

Traffic Plan Update:

The new front parking lot is complete and a binder paving is complete at the new bus loop; final top paving will be installed at the end of next summer due to future work at the gym.
The gym-side entrance drive has new curbs in place and the surface is completed to the binder surface until next summer when final, top paving will be installed. The new gym-side sidewalks will be in place between the back parking area and the old library at the start of school.
The new parking lot by the tennis courts in the back of the building is also complete for use.
Other paving at the loading dock and other select areas will be completed for use in the beginning of the school year.

Therefore, walkways around the school, bus pick-up and drop-off at the front of the school, access to the rear parking lots on the gym-side drive and from those lots on the auditorium-side drive are all available and will be used as they were last June. Visitor parking is now in the front of the building.

New additions and renovations to the existing building continue. Following some re-sequencing of the first four phases of the project, a plan is in place to complete classrooms that will be needed for school to open.

The new cafeteria will be used, but the new kitchen will not come on line until later in the fall. Hot meals will be served by utilizing the existing kitchen.
The library will continue to operate in its current location until the end of the calendar year.
The gym and locker rooms are in use for the summer camps.
Temporary windows are installed in some new areas, and will be replaced with permanent windows during the early fall and on night time work shifts.
Some temporary cooling measures have also been put into place for comfort as the new HVAC system continues to be completed.

There are thirteen phases of this project; all of which will be completed in the fall of 2012. About 25% of the construction time on the project has elapsed through this summer, with two more summers of significant work to be completed.

Marple Newtown School District and the Project Team wish to thank the administrators and teachers who have assisted in working through the project, phasing updates to accommodate the learning environment for the students. We also wish to thank the students and parents as they continue to be patient as we make the Marple Newtown High School a better place to learn.

A timeline for all of the phases can be found here!

Groundbreaking Ceremony! A ground breaking ceremony for the Marple Newtown High School Renovations and Additions Project was held December 3, 2009. Students joined in to get the job started!

In order to provide our students an excellent education, we have completed the needs analysis for Marple Newtown High School. This analysis identifies the educational program and its requirements for the building, such as integrating technology into the classrooms.

The project team consists of the School Board, administration, high school staff, Bonnett Architects and Reynolds Construction Management. One of the greatest challenges our team faces is balancing fiscal responsibility with the commitment to build the best high school possible for our students. We understand the burden that property taxes impose on many of our residents and our goal is to minimize the impact of this project on our taxpayers. We also face financial realities, such as limitations of borrowing capacity, Act 1 (The Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006) restrictions and Department of Education requirements. Our duty to the taxpayers and other economic realities guide us as we identify the optimal programs for our students in a building that requires significant repair and is inadequate for today’s educational environment.

We have considered the options of building new, renovating the current building, or combining new construction with renovation of the existing building. By comparing recent expenditures of other local districts on similar projects, and by using current construction costs, we can better examine each option. When we began the process of securing funding for a major renovation, the borrowing capacity for the district was approximately $70 million. If we build an entirely new high school on our existing site, the cost would greatly exceed $100 million. Consequently, we do not consider a new high school a viable option. Therefore, our efforts have focused on deciding between a complete renovation and a renovation with partial additions. Upon reviewing these options, we believe a renovation with partial additions can be achieved for approximately $70 million and will accomplish the majority of our educational goals.

Using this approach, the project team is working together to deliver our educational program in an updated facility at a fraction of the cost of a new building. We will have a first-class academic program, energy-efficient systems and a building that instills a sense of pride. To address these challenges, we are examining our existing building and identifying portions of the building that can be renovated and portions of the building that are failing too critically to be saved.

The team has successfully completed an Educational Specification that addresses the future of education for the High School Program. This document contemplates size of rooms and areas in the building as well as numbers of students in each class. Maintaining an appropriate class size is a key part of the Strategic Plan for the District. Flexibility for our children’s education in the future is addressed in the building plan through creative space use and upgraded technology. The Education Specification Plan is moving through the approval process at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Completing these guidelines and plans allows the team to determine how to finalize the building layout and design. The design re-uses nearly 97% of the existing building while minimizing new additions. This cost-saving approach, nonetheless, modernizes the existing building. It also minimizes the cost of site work and allows the project funds to be spent on the building systems and improvements that directly impact the educational program.

Currently, the High School is in need of over $12 million of deferred maintenance upgrades. By incorporating these upgrades into the project, the repairs are more thorough and cost-efficient and have a longer lifespan than if they were purchased separately. Deferred maintenance repairs alone, however, do not make a building feel like new. When the project is completed with all building systems renovated and improved, the High School will feel like new.

Updates will be reported and discussed at monthly Facilities & Technology Committee meetings, which are held the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room at the Gauntlett Center, and are open to the public.

Marple Newtown High School Renovations Project

-- Balancing Fiscal Responsibility