South Fayette School Board puts building plan on pause
In an online meeting Monday night, South Fayette School Board decided to hold off on a vote to proceed with some preliminary work on its ambitious construction and renovation plan.
The board decided to table until April plans that would have started the design development phase for additions and alterations to the district’s intermediate school, and increased the size of a proposed new elementary school. Several members of the board wanted to proceed with caution before moving forward with the plans given all the uncertainty associated with the coronavirus and how it could affect the economy.
“There are too many unknowns for my comfort right now,” said board member Teresa Burroughs. “It used to be that we’d build it and they’d come. Now it could be that we’ll build it and they’ll go.”
Following a districtwide feasibility study last year that projected growth would continue in the district, a $83 million plan was hatched to build a new elementary school on the South Fayette campus on Old Oakdale Road, along with a new pupil services center, new transportation and maintenance buildings and additional classroom space.
Jen Iriti, another board member, suggested contacting the demographer the district has worked with previously to see if previous growth projections would still be valid.
“I think there’s a lot of uncertainty right now about what is happening globally and how that will affect our project,” she said.
The board did, however, vote to proceed with a plan to replace the roof at the high school, which has been plagued by leaks.
The online meeting was the first of its kind for the district, and happened on the same day the district’s students started doing classroom work online.
“It went off very well,” said Kenneth Lockette, South Fayette’s superintendent. “We had two weeks to put it together.”
With Gov. Tom Wolf ordering schools closed indefinitely across Pennsylvania, it remains unknown when, or even if, students will be back in classrooms before the academic year ends in June.
“We don’t have a timeline for when we’re coming back,” Lockette said. “We’re planning for the long haul.”