The Shaler Area School District will be figuring out the value of a school it intends to close after the coming school year.
The school board has approved hiring two firms to appraise Shaler Area Elementary School, which sits on a nearly 20-acre parcel on Scott Avenue.
The district will pay Integra Realty Resources $3,000 and Valbridge Property Advisors $3,500 for their services.
The state Department of Education requires two appraisals when a school district is preparing to close and then sell a facility. The appraisals will be done over the next three months and then will be reviewed by the school board, Superintendent Bryan O’Black said.
After the appraisals are done, the board will then “determine how it wishes to market the property and the approach it intends to take regarding any subsequent sale,” O’Black said.
Shaler Area is closing its elementary school as part of a reconfiguration, which the school board approved in November. The plan will move fourth and fifth grades from the elementary school into the district’s four primary schools and move sixth grade to its middle school.
For 2026-27, Shaler Area Elementary School will house only fifth and sixth grades, with fourth grade remaining at their primary schools.
The elementary school also will be a location for the Pre-K Counts program during the 2026-27 school year.
A free pre-kindergarten through the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds, Pre-K Counts had been offered at all four primary schools. Because of the reconfiguration and available space, the school board in April approved having it only at Reserve.
Prompted by feedback from families, the school board revised its agreement with the council in June to add the elementary school as a second site.
O’Black said that was done to provide a more centralized location for the 2026-27 school year and give families time to plan moving forward. Since fourth grade will not be in the elementary school, there will be room for Pre-K Counts there.
Families who used Burchfield or Scott primary schools will go to the elementary school, while those from Marzolf and Reserve will use Reserve. After the 2026-27 school year, all Pre-K Counts classrooms will move to Reserve.
The elementary school houses the district’s only swimming pool. In May, the school board approved a three-year agreement with the Sarah Heinz House on Pittsburgh’s North Side to use its pool beginning with the 2027-28 swim season.