Part 2 of series

A Northampton Area School District decision to renovate or replace existing buildings or construct new buildings on the Seemsville Road and Route 329 property is based on achieving 21st-century education and equity needs.

The Northampton Area School District Elementary School Options and Facility Improvements report, detailed in the April 8 edition of Northampton Press, recommends closing Moore and Franklin elementary schools, the Washington building housing the district technology center and the administration and maintenance buildings.

The report recommends a $70 million phased project containing an elementary school, administration building, technology center, maintenance building and bus-parking facility on the 93.5-acre Seemsville tract.

Providing smart classroom technology and COVID-19 protocol-compliant heating, ventilation and air conditioning with community-use space in 100-plus-year-old buildings and the 60-plus-year-old Moore building could be challenging, cost prohibitive and likely impossible, according to the report.

Renovation or replacement of the existing buildings could reportedly equal or exceed the cost of new construction.

The contrast was highlighted during an April 19 school board tour of the Lehigh Elementary School project on Blue Mountain Drive, Lehigh Township. Lehigh Elementary is a smart school, designed to help students be even smarter.

“We’ve been talking a lot about equity,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said during the tour, adding, “It’s about the resources in each school.”

When Lehigh Elementary opens Aug. 30 for the 2021-22 school year, students and teachers will have classrooms equipped with smart technology and not one, but two STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) rooms, each about double the size of a regular classroom.

Lehigh Elementary will have the latest HVAC technology. When asked if changes in HVAC for Lehigh Elementary had to be made for more stringent COVID-19 protocol, Jay Clough, principal at KCBA Architects, Lehigh Elementary project architect, said they were ahead of the game with HVAC.

“The HVAC system is seamless and not visible, just the way it should be,” said Arif Fazil, president of D’Huy Engineering, Lehigh Elementary project engineer.

In the Elementary School Options and Facility Improvements report, presented at the March 22 NASD school board meeting and the basis for this series, Fazil detailed the Capital Maintenance Plan, which D’Huy prepared in 2011 and updates annually for the district.

“The district can utilize the plan to compare the condition of each facility against the estimated renovation or replacement costs,” the report states.

The report includes a two-page analysis of improvements needed at Moore Elementary, built in 1958, with a checklist of 51 items, each with a priority rating, that would total $25.5 million in renovations. The cost of replacing Moore is put at $38 million.

Other district buildings, the year they were built and their renovation and replacement costs listed in the report follow.

• Franklin Elementary, 1907; renovation: $9.1 million; replacement: $9.9 million

• Washington building, 1904; renovation: $6.7 million; replacement: $7.9 million

• Administration building, 1918; renovation: $7.9 million; replacement: $12.5 million

• Maintenance building, 1987; renovation: $12.3 million; replacement: $20.5 million

The cost of renovations of Moore, Franklin, Washington, administration and maintenance is $61.5 million.

The cost of replacing Moore, Franklin, Washington, administration and maintenance is $88.8 million.

In comparison, the cost of construction of an elementary school, administration building, technology center and maintenance and bus-parking facility on the Seemsville tract is $70 million.

Next: Seemsville project costs

Conclusion: East Allen Township zoning and timetable