Plans for proposed Quaker Valley High School move forward

A proposed Quaker Valley High School project has cleared another design hurdle.

School board members voted 7-0 at the May 23 meeting to approve design development plans prepared by BSHM Architects and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

Board vice president Marna Blackmer and board member Jeffrey Watters were absent.

The approval was required for the architects to begin construction documents, which are more detailed and have specifications for the bidding and building of the project.

The proposed 167,000-square-foot school is on 150 acres of land off Camp Meeting Road. It straddles Leet Township, Edgeworth and Leetsdale.

Project costs were estimated to be around $100 million. The latest financial projections from Thomas and Williamson, the district’s program manager, estimated it at a little more than $98 million.

Architects have been working on project development for more than a year. There were meetings with teachers, staff, students and other district residents in which input was gathered and analyzed as part of the design process.

The architects delivered a video presentation of the school’s design development for the school board’s committee meeting May 17.

The presentation included several artist renderings and a virtual tour of some of the facilities including a media center and outdoor terraces.

The video is available for viewing on the district’s YouTube page.

Plans include 57 classrooms, two large group instruction rooms, seven small group instruction rooms, a 1,000-seat gymnasium, a 750-seat theater, as well as administration and guidance offices, a cafeteria and 15 restrooms.

“Showing people what our future high school will look like is exciting,” district communications director Michelle Dietz said. “It makes it real. We also have continued tours of our breathtaking site. Once people visit, they leave with a greater understanding of what this school will mean to the students of our district. It is not just a building, it is an experience for everyone in the community.”

Dietz said they plan to submit plans to the Leet Planning Commission late summer or early fall.

Construction may take place late March 2024 through late December 2026 and with the school ready for occupancy in January 2027.

Addressing misinformation

Superintendent Tammy Andreyko said the district has been very transparent about the project process.

It has chronicled every step and provided answers to frequently asked questions on the “Blueprint QV” section of the district’s website, qvsd.org.

“It concerns me when our website has posted all of these research studies in full transparency and individuals choose to fabricate a story or option that is not based on the realities of our current property and research conducted in the process of vetting that property,” Andreyko said.

District officials reiterated assurances of keeping project spending to within legal limits such as state Act 34 guidelines and the Local Government Unit Debt Act, which limits a school district’s outstanding debt they are allowed to have without voter approval, among the fiscal restrictions being followed.

“Essentially, we can’t overtax, overbuild, or overborrow,” Watters said via email.

Questions about the commitment to student safety began circulating following the February 2022 denial by Leet’s zoning hearing board of the district’s application for the school.

The denial was largely due to a lack of an emergency access road for first responders.

The district took the zoning hearing board to court over its actions, and an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge ruled in Quaker Valley’s favor in November.

Charlie Gauthier, district director of facilities, said they never declined to include a potential emergency access road.

“Currently, there are two entry/exit points designed for the site,” he said. “This is similar to many local and regional schools such as Thomas Jefferson, Seneca Valley, Montour, and North Allegheny (school districts) that have been built in a similar fashion with only one or two access points on the same road.”

Board member Gianni Floro said the high school, like all schools, will have an emergency preparedness and emergency disaster plan. Those plans will be crafted in coordination with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency among other entities.

“Those plans cannot be developed until a much later date in the high school project,” Floro said. “The district has an emergency plan in place for every school building in the district, and will have an emergency plan in place for the new High School at the appropriate time and before occupancy.”

District officials said rumors about selling the current high school or repurposing the facility once the new high school is built have been greatly exaggerated.

“This is a valuable piece of property for our district,” board president Jon Kuzma said. “It provides athletic resources for our students and community. Our intention is to retain our property and facility, as we are aware of its value.

“Our use of the structure may change, but we have not had any discussions regarding the development of the property as a drug rehab center, senior living facility, a pharmacy, or any other rumored use. Those ill-mannered rumors are disrespectful to our community and are being applied as a scare tactic. At this time, our primary focus is to build the new high school and open it for our students. The future use of our land holdings will be an ongoing discussion for the future of Quaker Valley.”