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Mt. Lebanon school upgrades could cost close to $60 million
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 By Laura Pace, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Some of the equipment, furnishings and facilities at Mt. Lebanon's seven elementary schools are so antiquated they could be put into a museum or become part of a 1960s yard sale, a consultant told the school board.
Kenneth Brooks, a consultant from Lancaster, Ky., presented his 48-page report Thursday as a complement to a study by Mt. Lebanon architects Valentour English Bodnar & Howell.
The architects studied the elementary schools, some more than 70 years old, and the high school.
They estimated the district would need to spend about $29 million to renovate the elementary schools to repair infrastructure and such safety items as electrical wiring, lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plus eliminate such hazardous materials as asbestos.
They estimated it would cost about the same to update the high school.
The district spent about $30,000 on Brooks' study, hoping to see how the facilities could be improved to fit with the district's educational program.
Among his comments on the elementary schools:
"Not all the spaces are bad," Brooks said. Some areas, such as the newer section of Lincoln Elementary, the art rooms at Hoover, the gym at Jefferson and the parking areas at Markham, may not need much work.
Other schools are more challenging. Less than 50 percent of Washington Elementary's square footage is used space. Corridors and ramps built to join several additions use much of the space.
Brooks and the board agreed the renovations would be disruptive.
He suggested the district rent space to house the students during the construction or buy portable classrooms to house an entire school, then renovate one school at a time.
If a particular school, such as Washington Elementary, did not have room for all the portables on site, Brooks suggested putting the portables somewhere else and busing the children there to have all the work done at once.
District officials also are considering having the work done over the summers and breaks, but it is too early to tell if that option is possible.
The school board told Brooks to take the next step and provide more detailed reports including some specific suggestions for configurations, explanation of the quality of work required and updated estimates. He will meet with the board again in October and hopes to have the planning process completed by year's end.
The district also will have "as-built" drawings completed on each of the schools.
Current blueprints consist of folders full of changes, but none includes the structures as they exist. Brooks estimated the drawings would cost about $35,000.
Board members said they were concerned primarily with fixing such crucial items as wiring and heating first and would consider aesthetics later.
"This $30 million is a tough number to swallow," facilities committee Chairman Henry Kasky said. "This is going to be a tough, tough project."
Resident Calvin Lynch was concerned about the renovations' effect on taxes. "I want people to know what's going on before the [November] election," he said. "You're going to kill us. You are going to kill this area."
"You're preaching to the choir," Kasky replied.
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The current configuration, allocation and quality of spaces are not effective because education styles have changed greatly since the buildings were constructed.