Kiski Area to explore $22 million intermediate school renovation

Kiski Area School District officials are moving toward financing a projected $22 million renovation of the intermediate school.

The board Monday approved a resolution appointing Janney Montgomery Scott LLC as the district’s bond underwriter and the law firm of Dinsmore and Shohl LLP as its bond counsel.

Superintendent Misty Slavic took pains to emphasize that nothing is written in stone yet.

“I just want to reiterate to our community that this is nothing more than allowing our bond counsel and our business manager to come up with figures,” Slavic said.

The resolution’s wording states: “In particular, it is the intent of the Board to consider a formal action authorizing bonded indebtedness, on a ‘parameters’ style basis, in order to finance the first portion of the costs of the Project, at its meeting on December 7, 2022.”

It further states that action would facilitate consideration and approval of a bond issue aimed at raising $15 million in the first quarter of 2023. Also, the resolution said a second bond issue would be forthcoming, likely in late 2024 or early 2025 to complete the remainder of the financing for the project.

Board member Todd Sterlitz, chairman of the buildings and grounds committee, said the board is in a position in which it has to act.

“The intermediate school has a lot of problems,” Sterlitz said.

The school was constructed on the high school campus grounds and opened in 1992, making it 30 years old.

He said the renovation would “take the middle school down to the bare bones and make it code compliant.”

Sterlitz said that includes structural problems such as water leaking around windows, replacement of the roof, new electrical wiring to support the technology advances in education and new heating ventilation and air conditioning systems.

“There are items that, if not addressed, will be far more costly than renovation,” he said. “It needs all the kinds of technology upgrades that will make a better education for our students.”

Working with Axis Architecture PC, Sterlitz said the committee looked at two other options. One was tearing the school down and building a new one at a projected cost of $40 million. The other was moving the three intermediate grades into the high school, putting all secondary students under one roof.

Sterlitz said the cost of expanding and renovating the high school to accommodate that was estimated at $57 million.

“We went with the most cost-effective option,” Sterlitz said.

Architect Hank Tkacik of Axis spoke to the board and said the project would take about 3½ years to complete.

“There’s about a year’s worth of design and 2½ years of construction,” he said.

He said the work would progress while classes continue to be held in the building. That would mean moving students from one section of the building to the next as the work is completed section by section.

“Most public schools are renovated while there are classes in the building simply because, in most places, there is just nowhere to put the children,” Tkacik said.

Slavic and Sterlitz said the next task for the board will be explaining to the community what the board is proposing and seeking feedback as the financial groundwork is being planned.

“In the meantime, we want to go back to the people in the district and walk-throughs of the school and public meetings,” Sterlitz said.

“We really have to go to the community and tell them what we want for the children,” Slavic said.

As for whether the board has any other choice regarding the intermediate school, Sterlitz said, “We don’t feel we do.”