Kiski Area School Board approves $25M middle school renovation project

One of four contractors chosen for Kiski Area School District’s $25 million middle school renovation project has drawn opposition from two school board members.

School board members Amy Halter and Dawn Mellinger voted against paying $14.6 million to general contractor Liokareas Construction.

The company served in the same role for the Gateway Middle School renovation, which ran nine months behind schedule and accumulated $3.2 million in change orders. That school is set to reopen for the 2024-25 school year.

“I didn’t want us to be in that same situation,” Halter said. “This is a huge expense that they (Gateway School District) were not prepared for.”

One of those change orders resulted from a mid-project switch from vinyl to more durable terrazzo floors, TribLive reported in 2022.

Officials from Liokareas and Gateway School District did not respond to requests for comment.

Aside from concerns about Liokareas, Halter said she’s “thrilled about the project” for Kiski’s intermediate school, which is set to begin in earnest once faculty leave the building June 6.

Opened in 1989, the intermediate school lacks Americans With Disabilities Act compliance, fire sprinklers, ample natural light and reliable WiFi, district officials said.

School board President Todd Sterlitz noted classrooms have only four outlets — one on each wall.

“We’re really, really outdated,” Sterlitz said. “(The building) was planned to the construction specifications in the 1980s, which were outdated at the time.”

All of these issues will be addressed by the renovations.

The building also is showing its age in terms of safety and security. Visitors currently have to walk through the school to access the main office, giving unscreened individuals access to the building.

The remodeled office will have a “mousetrap” entrance, a security measure where visitors first must pass through a vestibule separated from the rest of the school by a second set of doors.

“Somebody is not going to have to walk through the school building to get to the office,” Superintendent Jason Lohr said.

In addition, the building will be reorganized to embrace a pods systems, giving each group of classrooms its own common area for space-intensive projects or activities. Pods are confined to a single grade level and subject area.

The library also will get a facelift, featuring more collaboration-oriented seating and a dedicated research area.

District officials declined to share a detailed floor plan, citing security concerns.

Construction crews will begin the project’s first phase in the coming days by breaking ground on a new parking lot between the intermediate school and administrative offices, Lohr said.

The project is slated for completion by December 2025, he said.

In the meantime, students and faculty will endure a tight squeeze as Kiski Area High School absorbs grades seven and eight. For the next two years, the intermediate school will operate as “a school inside of a school,” Lohr said.

With 2023-24 enrollment numbers, that would mean 1,670 students in a single building — 543 middle school students and 1,127 high school students.

One of the high school’s three main buildings will be taken over by seventh and eighth graders, who will have their own cafeteria, gymnasium, bathrooms, bell schedule, school nurse and bus entrance. Classroom sharing will be kept to a minimum, according to Lohr.

Intermediate school students may cross paths with high school students as they share the library, auditorium and technology classrooms.

A separate office will operate out of a trailer on the new parking lot, which will be otherwise designated for middle school employees.

“It’s going to be a tight fit, and people are going to be uncomfortable,” Lohr acknowledged. “But we feel we can get it done.”

Lohr estimated that keeping middle school students at the building during renovations would have nearly doubled the project’s duration, not to mention the challenges of cordoning off construction areas.

Project planning began in earnest in 2021, Lohr said, but district officials have been eyeing an overhaul of the intermediate school for years.

“I think it’s going to be worth the wait when it’s done,” Lohr said. “It’s long overdue.”