Hempfield Area mulls funding options for stalled high school project

State funding might be available to help defray some of the cost of the work on the stalled Hempfield High School renovation project, its construction manager told the school board Monday.

The board put the brakes on the project in August after bids for some of the work revealed its cost had ballooned to nearly $150 million — nearly $20 million more than was projected.

In November, then-Superintendent Tammy Wolicki took a leave of absence that culminated in her decision to retire in January. Interim Superintendent Kimberlie Rieffannacht is leading the district until June.

“We are very confident that we can still work within budget constraints and timelines to keep us moving. We’re going to move forward with this project,” Rieffannacht said.

Representatives from SitelogIQ told the board state grants could help pay for portions of the project.

While many of the grant programs require some percent of the funds to be matched, they could provide extra funding support for different parts of the high school project, SitelogIQ vice president Garrett Lewis said.

For instance, funds obtained through the Act 34 Public School Facility Grant Program, which will be awarded in fall 2024, could help with project components such as roof repairs and HVAC systems, demolition, internet connectivity, accessibility upgrades and more.

“There is a conversation to be had, and we’ve talked to (the superintendent) about this, as far as what we might apply for for these funds, as multiple project opportunities exist for Hempfield,” Lewis said.

Rieffannacht highlighted that the grant funds, if applied for by the district, could be used both for the high school renovation and for other more everyday maintenance that the district will need in upcoming years.

SitelogIQ helped the district with an asset protection evaluation in 2022, she noted, looking at Hempfield’s buildings in order to identify potential future repairs and updates that could be imminent.

“What we’re going to have to do as a committee and as a team is determine what’s a best fit for those grant dollars,” Rieffannacht said. “It could be the high school project or pieces of it, or it could be a new roof or HVAC at another building, or something along those lines.”

Next steps in architect search

Rieffannacht noted that the request for proposals for a new architect for the project is still open until the end of this week.

The district has been searching for a new architect for the project since its previous architect, Core Architects, resigned in February. Hempfield paid more than $2.4 million to Core Architects for the work it did on the project previously. The Bellevue-based firm had been working with the district on the project since 2022.

The team will start looking at the architect applications once the request period closes, but Rieffannacht declined to commit to a concrete timeline on when the new architect will be selected.

“We are going to meet with our team next week and start planning that out and sketching that out, what timeline makes sense for us,” she said.

She expects to hold brief updates to share any new information about the high school project at each school board meeting.