Pine-Richland considers planetarium upgrade

Pine-Richland High School students apparently don’t mind being left in the dark.

Each year, about 200 of them request taking astronomy courses in the school planetarium, according to Michael Pasquinelli, assistant superintendent of secondary education and curriculum.

The planetarium dates back to the building’s 1993 construction, he said during the school board’s March 11 meeting.

“Is it working right now? Yes,” he told the board, but replacement parts no longer are available. “So we are starting the process of evaluating different systems that could replace and/or enhance the current system, at least until it’s no longer operational.”

Toward that eventuality, district officials propose budgeting $650,000 in the capital funding plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year. The figure roughly matches the highest cost among several options under consideration, compared with one option estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000.

On March 8, representatives from Delaware County planetarium service provider Spitz Inc. visited the high school to demonstrate the same type of projection and content system used by the Carnegie Science Center.

“What we saw last Friday was just a huge upgrade to what we can currently do with our astronomy curriculum,” astronomy teacher Troy McCurdy said at the school board meeting, noting that the system includes applications that can be used for courses in subjects such as chemistry, biology and physics.

The cost estimate is between $350,000 and $450,000, with the price predicated on the relative quality of lens system selected.

Another demonstration of a projection system is scheduled for March 22, by representatives of Seiler Planetarium. The St. Louis-based company is the exclusive distributor of projection systems by ZEISS, the German manufacturer that supplied Pine-Richland’s original equipment.

Upgrading to a new ZEISS product could cost up to $650,000, depending on its location within the planetarium.

Superintendent Brian Miller attended the Spitz demonstration and described the audio-visual aspect as something that “will blow your mind.”

“It is an experience that cannot be told to you verbally here,” he said, encouraging school board members to be present for Seiler’s visit. “It is absolutely something to be experienced.”

Among the planetarium options is a projection system from Digitalis Education Solutions Inc. of Bremerton, Wash., at a cost of between $50,000 and $100,000, based on the type of software package included.

Digitalis equipped high schools including North Hills, Seneca Valley and Gateway, some of which McCurdy and fellow Pine-Richland astronomy teacher Andy Dugger visited.

“Our original system in 1993 is better than what they currently have,” McCurdy observed, “and it’s not even close.”

A timeline presented to the school board lists a determination of purchasing options by April, advertising for bids that month, bid opening on May 6 and a board vote May 20..

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for our students to have an upgraded system,” McCurdy said. “Whatever system we use going forward, we’ll hopefully get another 25 or 30 years out of, as well.”