Hempfield Area officially rejects bids on high school project, plans to revise scope

Less than two weeks from the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Hempfield Area is going back to the drawing board on its ambitious high school renovation project.

After learning the project bids came in millions of dollars over budget at a meeting on Aug. 9, board members rejected all bids for the high school during a school board meeting Monday.

SitelogIQ architects estimated last week that the project in its current form would cost about $150 million, or $148 million with accepted alternates. The projection is a jump of $16 million to $18 million from the $132 million price tag that was predicted at a June town hall meeting.

Because the cost is above the threshold that would trigger a second Act 34 hearing for the district, and because the expenses for the new construction portion of the project are out of balance with the renovation portion, the district must return to meetings with the construction planning team and shrink the scope of the plan, solicitor Krisha DiMascio explained.

“We have no other choice but to reject these bids, and to go back and re-look at the scope of the project, the balance of the project, and the cost of the project,” she said.

Board President Paul Ward said the bids came in at a “higher value than we expected.”

The board voted 8-0 with one absence to reject the bids.

Residents initially expected to see shovels in the ground at the high school this month. The interior of the high school building was expected to be gutted and renovated over the course of the next three years, leaving most of the exterior intact with some additions.

Now, construction is not expected to start until at least spring 2024.

Next steps

Hempfield’s high school is ready for the new school year, despite the construction delay, said Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. At the Aug. 9 meeting, she noted that the board will head back to small-group meetings with the architects to determine “what reductions (we) can live with” on the project.

“The administration, board of school directors, SitelogIQ and CORE Architects will revisit the scope of work and make adjustments to align the project with the budget,” Wolicki said in a letter to parents last week.

The majority of the high school has been prepped for the coming school year, and the portion of the building that would have been closed this fall for renovations is in the process of being cleaned, Wolicki said at Monday’s meeting.

“Now that we know the renovations will be delayed, we are planning to continue to use our locker rooms, our gymnasium and the auxiliary gym,” she said. “Those areas will be finalized and ready for the start of school as well.”

Hempfield ninth graders were set to attend classes in the former Harrold Middle School building for the duration of the project, and the board approved plans to redistribute middle school students from Hempfield’s three middle school buildings into two, reassigning the Harrold space for ninth graders.

Students will still follow these plans despite the construction delays.

Resident comments

At the meeting Monday night, a few parents and residents aired their grievances with the renovation planning process, raising concerns about whether construction management company SitelogIQ could be trusted to plan the project.

“We don’t need a construction management company — we need construction,” said resident Lindsay Stevens, arguing that the district should look into getting bids directly from contractors instead. “That’s not happening with SitelogIQ. What needs to be evaluated at this point is our relationship with them moving forward.”

Stevens said the community has been asking the board to reevaluate the “needs and means” for the project. She cited resident concerns about the middle school consolidation.

She suggested examining whether new construction would be cheaper than a rebuild and raised the idea of using the former SCI Greensburg state prison site purchased by the township.

“Our community speaks, and you don’t listen,” she said. “The board consistently does what the board wants, and not what the community wants.”

Resident and board candidate Erin Johns Speese said she was disappointed in the process and how it has progressed. Her daughter is moving to a new school building this year, and Speese expressed concern that students would fall through the cracks in the transition to different buildings.

“The high school absolutely should be renovated, but I wish you would have been more thoughtful in your planning,” she said, adding that she would have preferred the district have a more solid plan in place before consolidating the middle schools.

“It appears to the public that you put your faith in SitelogIQ, rather than spending more time pushing for the answers to necessary questions,” she said. “You voted to consolidate the middle schools, when so many parents and guardians suggested that you needed a better plan.”

She also criticized the list of suggested cuts provided by SitelogIQ and CORE Architects, arguing that it would remove opportunities for students if the district chose some of them.

The suggested revisions range from smaller changes — such as reducing the width of the pool from eight to six lanes — to more drastic ones — including demolishing part of H-wing and moving the programs there to another part of the high school, cutting a band room addition and redesigning the planned physical education addition.

“You need to do better for our kids, and make sure all students get the educational tools they need to succeed,” said Speese.