Peters School Board exploring facility upgrades
New field house among possibilities
As the new school year gets underway, the Peters Township School District is considering making some facility upgrades for school years down the road, including possibly building a new field house.
At the district’s school board meeting Monday, members heard from a representative of PNC Bank about debt service since the board is looking at its options to fund an assortment of capital projects, which could include a field house to replace the one at Peters Township Middle School on East McMurray Road.
The board is also considering creating an ad hoc committee that would identify what athletic programs and extracurricular activities are needed in the district.
Some of the nuts-and-bolts projects the board is examining include paving parking lots and replacing worn HVAC systems. But if the board would opt to replace or significantly upgrade the field house, it would have many backers in the community if a meeting of the board’s buildings and grounds committee on Aug. 10 is any indication.
At that meeting, several residents said the field house and the district’s athletic facilities were inadequate and not on par with its neighbors.
Barbara Deliere, the coach of the high school’s dance team and a retired Spanish teacher, said “there is no place for us to go” in the district, and that she would like to see a space that can be used by the squad.
Allison Shanafelt, who is a member of the township council, said she believed the district’s approach had long put sports in a secondary position and “we’re missing the boat by not giving our students a proper field.”
Jason DiAngelo, a onetime student and business owner, said his participation in athletics gave him the boost he needed to be successful later in life.
“Money has to be spent on the whole student,” he said. “And athletics are part of the student body.”
The board is expected to continue to discuss the potential projects at its buildings and grounds committee meeting in September and also at its finance committee and regular board meetings.