As work wraps up on an $83 million renovation and expansion at Manheim Township High School, district officials are planning improvements for two areas of the school largely left out of the project — the swimming pool and convocation hall.
Renovations totaling an estimated $650,000 are proposed for the two areas as part of a $6.7 million five-year major maintenance plan approved this month by the school board.
The plan, which covers all district schools, is only a blueprint, and most of the projects it recommends will require board approval at a future date.
The proposal calls for spending about $400,000 in 2010-11 to upgrade the 50-year-old high school pool.
The improvements could include new plumbing, chlorination and drainage equipment, a new deck perimeter and interior lights and possibly a new liner.
A consultant is determining what repairs are needed, Joe Kurjiaka, the district's director of planning and operations, said.
"We believe that if the concrete is sturdy enough and we put that money into the project, we could get another 15 to 20 years out of (the pool)," he said.
The district originally planned to spend about $1 million for a pool overhaul as part of the high school renovation and expansion project, but those plans were scrapped in 2006 to cut costs.
Instead, the district spent $74,000 last year on stop-gap repairs to get the pool ready for the high school swimming season.
Last spring, a community group recommended the district, township and swimming organizations build a new aquatic center to replace the aging pool.
The center, estimated at $14 million, could be built as part of a school for grades five and six the district plans to build in the next few years on the high school campus, the group said.
But Kurjiaka said school district officials aren't prepared to commit to such an expensive project, especially when the existing pool meets the district's needs.
"In this time and in this economy … it's really hard to justify that, especially when there's not a real need for us as a school district programmatically," he said.
Work on the high school pool could begin next summer.
Also proposed in the major maintenance plan are about $250,000 in improvements to the convocation hall, which received electrical, heating and air conditioning upgrades during the $83 million high school project.
The new work could include a new sound system, seats, folding doors and other improvements, Kurjiaka said.
Upgrades like those were originally planned for the high school project but were cut because of cost concerns, he said.
Other improvements proposed for the high school include $75,000 for campus traffic directional signs and $60,000 for increased security measures, such as portable partitions to close off academic areas from the gymnasium and cafeteria.
Kurjiaka said some of the smaller projects may be funded with what's left of the $83 million high school construction budget.
To pay for the more costly work, the district will use capital improvement funds, which currently total about $4 million.
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