The New Kensington- Arnold School District hopes to have new classroom furniture in all of its schools by September, Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said.
The school board voted last week to buy classroom seating and furniture from P.E.M. Co., an educational furniture dealership in the South Hills that was founded in August 2000 and covers Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“The goal is to improve the teaching and learning environment in all buildings, with an emphasis on purchasing furniture that promotes a student-centered learning experience,” Sefcheck said.
Sefcheck said the district looked at about a dozen vendors and narrowed them down to three that made presentations to the school board.
“Scoring was close enough between two vendors that we conducted another round of presentations,” Sefcheck said.
Exactly what furniture the district will buy and how much it will spend has not been determined. Grant money aimed at accelerating learning and addressing learning loss will pay for it, Sefcheck said.
“We will determine cost once we determine all the spaces and types of furniture we will order,” he said.
Some of the district’s furniture is more than 30 years old and not in good condition, Sefcheck said. Some of the worst was replaced with furniture taken from buildings the district closed a few years ago.
“Unfortunately, the majority of the furniture is not comfortable or able to realign for multiple functions,” he said.
