LANSDALE — District officials are eyeing a major repair to one of the busiest parts of North Penn High School.
Staff reported this week that a fix could be needed soon to the roof above the high school’s natatorium, along with several other roofing projects in the works.
“This is the worst of all the roofs on the high school. And there’s many roofs in poor condition at the high school, that we will need to address, but this is the worst of the worst of the high school,” said district Director of Facilities and Operations Tom Schneider
For several years now, staff and the school board’s facilities and operations committee have compiled a long-term capital list spelling out the equipment and infrastructure repairs needed in all district schools and buildings, grading them based on the age of the infrastructure and urgency of need. The most recent update to that list discussed last October included several components at North Penn High School, which is currently the focus of a master plan being developed by an outside consultant. The plan includes a line item for $4.2 million in roof repairs across the entire high school, rated as the second-worst condition in the entire district behind the boilers, switch gear and HVAC equipment at the high school.
Schneider told the school board’s facilities and operations committee on Monday night that part of that line item may have to be broken out and tackled sooner, due to the deterioration noted in core samples taken from the roof, with insulation and rubber membranes starting to separate.
“We did a complete survey back in 2016 of the high school roof, and we reperformed that survey recently, just in the last three weeks,” Schneider said.
“There is one section of the natatorium roof which is in very poor condition. The insulation is delaminating from the roof deck,” he said.
Photos show delamination of parts of the roof above the North Penn High School natatorium in early January 2022, as shown to the school board’s facilities and operations committee on Jan. 31. (Images courtesy of North Penn School District)
Early estimates are that the natatorium roof replacement would cost just over $1 million, while staff have also identified roughly $1 million in roof repairs needed to delaminating roof segments and leaking roof panels at Gwyn-Nor Elementary, an item added to the capital list last fall and rated with the third-worst score, just behind the high school roofs and equipment. Total costs are estimated at roughly $2.3 million for the actual roof replacements, plus just shy of $70,000 for the associated design work. Last fall the school board voted to transfer $3.5 million in unspent funds from the 2020-21 budget into capital reserves, a large portion of which would be spent on the roof repairs.
“I know we’re talking about potential master planning, and possible future renovations. This roof would remain as-is, after the replacement. There will be no equipment put on it, the equipment that services the natatorium is on a lower roof adjacent to this high roof, so this would be a capital investment, be it now or in the future,” he said.
Board President Tina Stoll asked if the Gwyn-Nor roof had recently been repaired, and Schneider said that sections have been, but the section in need of fixes now recently exceeded its warranty, and part is an addition above an art and multipurpose room added after the school was built in the 1990s. Stoll then asked a similar question about the natatorium roof, and Schneider said he was not aware of any repairs to the roof of the natatorium, only elsewhere at the high school.
“It’s a good lesson in not cutting corners, and getting it right with the decisions we make now, for the long term,” board member Jonathan Kassa said. “I used to say ‘We’ve run out of road to kick the can down.’ I’d say here, we’ve run out of roof.”
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the design contract for the roof repairs be moved ahead to the full board’s action agenda on Feb. 8, along with permission to advertise for bids on the projects. Schneider also gave updates Monday night on two other aspects of the high school renovations, including a recommendation to choose a consultant for a traffic study of the high school campus and surrounding roads.
“This is one of the items that is running parallel to the master planning process,” he said.
An RFP seeking proposals for the traffic study secured five respondents, and staff are recommending the lowest-cost option, a contract for just shy of $21,000 with Ambler-based Heinrich & Klein Associates.
“They will do a study of the traffic around the high school, Sumneytown Pike, Valley Forge Road, Snyder Road, and try to determine the impact, and what might be necessary as a result of, moving ninth grade to the high school property,” Schneider said.
Regarding the master plan, a kickoff meeting was held in November with staff and the consultants performing the master plan, and visits to high schools in Upper Merin and Springfield are currently being scheduled, as are visits to a high school in Virginia and another in the State College area, he said.
Regular updates on the master plan process will be given to the facilities committee, he added, and committee student liaison Anna Weatherwax asked if students would be involved in the master plan process too.
“Absolutely, we will be involving the student body,” Schneider said, including sports teams, student clubs, and more.
North Penn’s full board next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 28, both online; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
