Hempfield Area students will not have to attend classes in temporary trailers during the upcoming $119 million high school renovation.
Instead, a 2023 decision to move freshmen to the former Harrold Middle School has provided enough available space to keep all students in permanent classrooms after work begins June 1.
The school board this week approved bids for the renovation, which came in just under the $119 million mark. Superintendent Mark Holtzman said the move to Harrold in advance of the project was a critical step in avoiding the logistical hurdles often associated with large-scale school construction.
“We’re pretty happy to not have to have trailers and not have to get super creative with where kids are going to have to be educated, because they can all be in those buildings securely,” Holtzman said.
The decision to shift ninth-graders to Harrold three years ago was met with significant community pushback. At the time, parents launched a petition that gathered hundreds of signatures, citing concerns over the transition and the distance between the two buildings.
However, district officials noted that between 25% to 35% of the high school’s classrooms have been vacant since the start of the 2023-24 academic year. This vacancy will allow the district to rotate classes internally as construction crews move through different wings of the 600,000-square-foot building built in 1956.
“This will allow the district to easily move classes around while portions of the building are being renovated,” Holtzman said.
The renovation is expected to modernize the aging facility, addressing infrastructure needs and updating educational spaces.
Scope of the project
The three-part project is expected to be completed by June 2029, with each phase taking about a year. Some components of each phase, such as the cafeteria, might take longer than a year, Holtzman said.
The first phase of work includes construction of a two-story addition — between 70,000 and 80,000 square feet — as well as updates to the swimming pool, auditorium and high school and field house roofs.
Once the addition — pitched as an innovation center — is complete, the district will move some classes into the new space and begin renovating classrooms in the existing high school in the second phase, Holtzman said.
The cafeteria and library also will be updated in the second phase. The final phase will expand the field house lobby, rework the parking lot and renovate the inside of the field house and the back of the high school.
Sports, arts, parking
Alternative arrangements are still being made to carry the district’s sports teams through the renovation — namely those that use the field house and pool, said athletic Director Brandon Rapp.
“As the timeline and phasing of the project is developed, that will drive what programs and facilities are impacted at what time, and then our plans will be finalized,” Rapp said via email.
Letters have been sent to the community groups that regularly use the field house for events, asking them to make alternative arrangements for the next few years, Holtzman said.
More on the project:
• Hempfield school leaders take first steps toward feasibility study to rebuild or renovate high school
• Hempfield Area OKs study for renovating or rebuilding high school
• Hempfield School Board decides to tear down existing high school to its bare bones, building up from there
• Hempfield moves forward with borrowing plan for school construction
• Hempfield high school renovation project receives $128 million budget approval
• Hempfield high school project cost rises to $132 million
• Hempfield high school project plan is millions of dollars over budget, must be revised
• Hempfield reviews visions for high school renovation project after construction stalled last year
• Hempfield Area drafts 3D designs for high school renovation
• Hempfield Area School Board reopens bidding for $150 million high school project
• Hempfield high school renovation bids come in about $30 million lower than projected
• Hempfield Area School Board approves bids for long-awaited renovation at $119 million
Music performances — such as the musical and choir and band concerts — may need to be held at one of the district’s other auditoriums at Wendover and West Hempfield middle schools and Stanwood Elementary, he said.
“Not too many schools can renovate in place, add a big addition and not have major, major disruptions,” Holtzman said. “We’re going to have disruptions, but they should be limited to a degree.”
Students should still be able to drive themselves to school during the project, as the district aims to keep parking accessible, Holtzman said. But students may need to park near the football stadium, as the addition is constructed and other sections of the parking lot are used to stage building materials and equipment.
“Those are all details we have to iron out,” he said. “That won’t be something that we start to consider until the summer.”
Plans for ninth graders
Even after ninth-graders move to the high school, Holtzman said the district wants to keep the academic and social benefits of housing the entire grade in one dedicated area.
The concept, often referred to as freshman academy, has seen success nationwide.
According to a 2012 study out of Duke University, a freshman academy program can boost student engagement.
Freshman academy participants were found to have fewer absences, be less likely to drop out of school and less likely to receive an out-of-school suspension than their peers who were not involved in a similar program, the study said. They also were “more positively oriented toward preparing for and applying to college,” according to the study.
Freshman academy did not result in concrete improvements to test performance, it said.
The concept has received a positive reaction from Harrold students and parents the past couple of years, Holtzman said. The district plans to house all of its ninth grade core classes in one wing of the renovated high school, including the principal and guidance counselors, to emulate the freshman academy concept.
“That will be a really nice way to support those freshmen coming in,” he said. “A lot of times, they’re a little bit on the immature side. They’re not quite ready to take on (high) school, some of them, so we have to make sure they understand the expectations.”
Long-term plans for Harrold School, built in 1921, are up in the air, Holtzman said. The district will decide what to do with the building once the high school renovation is complete.
“Harrold’s not going to become a parking lot. It’s old, but it’s a useful building, and it has a decent roof and the HVAC system works well,” he said. “It’s just a place that needs some TLC. It’s definitely an asset for us to have it, no matter what happens to it.”