Freeport Area must decide if renovation or relocation works for aging high school

Freeport Area School District officials agree that the district’s aging high school, at a minimum, needs renovations.

The challenge ahead is figuring out how far the district can afford to go.

The school board recently released the results of a feasibility study by HHSDR Architects and Engineers offering ways to address rundown facilities at the high school.

Built in 1961, the building is “not conducive to 21st-­century learning” and lacks modern “security and safety standards,” Superintendent Ian Magness said.

By commissioning the report, the district effectively pivoted from a master plan initiated in 2021, which called for renovations totaling at least $60 million.

HHSDR presented nine options ranging from a $22 million retrofit of an undefined vacant building to a new $109 million high school.

All but three choices would relocate the high school, demolishing the classroom portion of the existing building and keeping the rest as an arts and athletics facility.

District leaders will need to account for stagnant enrollment in their decision.

At 1,850 students, about 1,000 seats went unfilled this year in classrooms across the district’s two elementary buildings, middle school and high school.

The report projects only modest enrollment growth through the next decade.

Other options include downsizing from four to three buildings at a cost of $23 million or $36 million, depending on related renovations, and adding the high school to the existing middle school for $75 million.

If the district reduced its physical footprint, the middle school would become the high school, middle school students would move to South Buffalo Elementary School and all K-5 classrooms would be taught in an expanded Buffalo Elementary School.

The district replaced boilers at the high school last year and plans to upgrade electrical service this summer. These systems would continue to service an arts and athletics building.

Altering or adding to the existing high school could cost $54 million to $81 million. Of the three renovation-based plans, the most ambitious would upgrade the auditorium, cafeteria and gym while moving administrative offices into the high school, too.

Several options call for moving administration offices farther from Route 356. According to Magness, that building could be impacted if PennDOT chooses to widen that portion of Route 356, something it has mulled over for years.

For Gary Risch, Freeport Area School Board president, the most attractive options are on the less costly end of the spectrum. He prefers the two proposals that would reduce the number of buildings from four to three.

“We can’t afford a $75 million project because we’re still paying on the middle school,” Risch said. “I like what the taxpayers can afford and what we can afford as a district right now.”

Debt payments on the middle school run through 2034.

Risch said it’s unclear at this stage whether the district will have to raise taxes.

By not committing to a pricier plan, Risch hopes the board can give future district leaders a chance to adjust if enrollment growth exceeds expectations. Housing developments are planned for Buffalo Township and South Buffalo, although Risch is skeptical the area could become “the next Cranberry.”

Taxpayers can weigh in on the proposals at a May 1 committee meeting.