SF to update demographic study
In anticipation of possible expansion of the high school, the South Fayette School board voted unanimously to update the district’s demographic study at a cost of $5,000. School directors Teresa Burroughs, Frank Morelli and William Sray were absent.
Dr. Shelby Stewman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, will update the study that he did for the district in 2011. In that study, he predicted enrollment at the high school would rise by nearly 400 students in the next 10 years.
Superintendent Dr. Bille Rondinelli said at the Sept. 24 meeting the district should receive the updated numbers sometime in January.
“This is the first step as far as any consideration of the high school expansion,” Rondinelli told the board. The second step would be to complete a feasibility study.
Money left over in the intermediate school construction fund could be used to pay the $5,000.
The high school was built about 10 years ago to accommodate approximately 800 students and is near that number now.
From 2001 to 2009, enrollment in the district increased by 34 percent, making it the state’s fastest-growing school district by percentage.
Also at the meeting, the board approved installing an irrigation system at the intermediate school athletic field at a cost of $26,409. The cost includes the installation of a water meter pit and the irrigation system by Vrabel Plumbing. The district will do the electrical work in-house.
The board also approved the lease/purchase of up to four 72-passenger buses through an addendum with the district’s current lease with PNC Bank. The first of 48 payments will be due July 15, 2014, with a $1 buyout at the end of the lease. The interest rate is 1.76 percent and the total purchase price of the four buses will not exceed $344,180.
In other business, Rondinelli announced that the school board will be receiving an award from the Pennsylvania Arts Education network at its Arts Education Symposium Oct. 30 in Harrisburg. Rondinelli said the board is being recognized for its consistency in keeping arts programs in the district.