Feb 19, 2015 By Cara Host 3 min read

George Washington Elementary School will see $3.3 million in improvements this summer if the Bethel Park School Board approves the project at its Feb. 24 meeting.

The district plans to replace the heating and air conditioning system, along with duct work, ceilings and some floors. Most of the work will take place after the school closes for the summer and the project should be finished just before the new school year starts in August.

The project architect, Kevin Hayes of Hayes Design Group of Bridgeville, told the board at its committee meeting Feb. 17 that the total project cost would be between $3.19 million and $3.337 million. The final cost will depend on the bids and whether the board chooses to expand the project with several add-on tasks, such as installing sound dampening in the gymnasium and replacing wiring for the sound system.

“We recommend doing all of these if you can afford to do it. Now is the time to do it and you would get more bang for your buck if you did it now,” Hayes said.

The project is similar to the HVAC replacement at Neil Armstrong Middle School, which was completed two years ago. Bethel Park also has tentative plans to replace the HVAC system at Ben Franklin Elementary School in a few years.

The district will withdraw from its capital reserve fund to pay for the improvements. Matthew Howard, assistant to the superintendent, said the fund balance is about $9 million.

“We estimated this project would fall in the $3 to $4 million range and we’ll definitely be within that. Hopefully we can get it a little lower once the bids come in,” Howard said.

Contractors will bid on the various aspects of the project next month and the school board will likely approve the final bids at a special meeting April 7. If all goes well, light construction should begin May 26, two weeks before the scheduled last day of school. Crews will perform most of the work after school hours and the bulk of the construction will begin after the last day of school, tentatively scheduled for June 4. The project is slated to be finished by Aug. 14.

In another matter, the board hired Jason Shoaf of Harwick as assistant principal at the high school. Shoaf is an elementary principal in the Riverview School District in Oakmont. He will be paid $90,000 a year and his start date has yet to be determined.

The board adopted an $84.1 million preliminary budget, but a final spending plan will not be adopted until June. A tax increase is possible, since the board agreed to submit referendum exceptions to the state, a necessary step if the board chooses to raise taxes above the Act 1 adjusted index of 2.4 percent.

The exceptions for special education and retirement contributions, if approved, would allow the board to raise property taxes above the index. Otherwise, a tax increase would only be possible through voter referendum.

However, school officials said the spending plan would shrink between now and June, so it is too early to determine whether a tax hike will be necessary. Preliminary figures are about $4.6 million higher than this year’s budget of $79.5 million.

“These are standard items to pass at this time so we can continue down the road to prepare a budget,” board president Donna Cook said of the preliminary budget and referendum exceptions.