Quaker Valley School District to host community discussion about high school project

Quaker Valley area residents with comments and concerns about a proposed high school can have their voices heard at an upcoming forum.

The school district will host a community panel discussion at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Quaker Valley High School, 625 Beaver St. in Leetsdale.

The panel will include key personnel from the district including administrators, school board members, architects, engineers and several project professionals. They will share the most up-to-date and accurate information about the project, according to a district release.

“We believe that community involvement and the sharing of current information is crucial to the success of this project,” said Superintendent Tammy A. Andreyko. “This panel discussion aims to keep our community well-informed and engaged throughout this important phase of the high school 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.

New artist renderings were revealed at the Aug. 22 school board meeting.

The images came from the district’s design team featuring BSHM and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects. Representatives from both companies are expected to be at the panel discussion.

Topics to be covered include the project history and design overview, upcoming events and milestones, expert insight into project progress and a question-and-answer session.

“It’s important to attend this if you want to get the information directly from the source,” said Gianni Floro, school board member and chairman of the facilities and operations committee.

“If you want to hear what our years of due diligence has produced. … I would hope that every seat in the auditorium is full. I would hope that everyone we can cram in there, responsibly, could check it out.”

Participants can submit their questions ahead of time via the district website, qvsd.org.

The event will also be livestreamed with a link to be posted on the site.

More project info and activities

District officials have said at several board meetings that the new high school will have amenities much larger than the current school, which is about a century old.

The current high school gymnasium is about 6,000 square feet and seats about 500 people. The new gym will be double that.

The current high school has about 200 parking spaces. Plans for the new one show 500 parking spaces.

The board will vote on the maximum project budget Sept. 19.

A state Act 34 hearing, a required public discussion districts must have for new buildings and buildings with substantial additions, will take place after that. A date has not been scheduled.

Scott Antonline, district director of finance and operations, said at the Aug. 22 meeting that project is still expected to be within the $95 million to $105 million projections that were made more than a year ago despite inflationary factors.

He is likely to be at the panel discussion, too.

The district’s goal is to break ground by next spring and have it ready by the 2027-28 school year.

“We have a building that we’re struggling to maintain simply for the fact that it’s approaching 100 years in age,” Floro said. “We are spending money on (maintenance) that we probably should be putting into a new facility.

“It takes time to develop a once-in-an-every-10-generation facility that we’re doing. If you want to do it right, you have to do the due diligence process. We want this building to last at least another 100 years.”

Tours are being offered at the proposed high school site.

Spots were still available as of presstime for the tour at 6-7 p.m. Oct. 5.

Tours are lead by Charlie Gauthier, district director of facilities and administrative services.

They are free and limited to 20 people. Registration is available through qvsd.org.

Other project details are available via the “Blueprint QV: New High School Project” section of the district’s website.