CLEARFIELD — Clearfield Area School Board members on Monday discussed the agreement for architectural services for the expansion of Clearfield Area Elementary School.
The school is in need of renovations as well as additional space, and finally the district’s architect — HHSDR Inc. of Pittsburgh — completed a feasibility study that showed that it would cost $17.5 to $18.5 million to expand and renovate the school.
Superintendent Terry Struble said the administration is going to ask the board to approve entering an agreement with HHSDR Inc. for architectural services for the project. He said the architectural services will cost six percent of the cost of the project for new construction and seven percent for renovations.
Struble said in consultation with district Solicitor Carl Beard of the Beard Legal Group of Altoona, the contract is standard for the industry for this size of project.
Struble noted that HHSDR Inc. was the architect for the high school renovation and expansion project several years ago, and the firm did not charge the district for all of the services it provided.
Struble said although student enrollment isn’t increasing, the additional space is needed because the need for student services has increased over the years.
The school is also in need of security upgrades such as a separate security entrance for the guidance office, Struble said. Currently, when parents come to the school to visit the guidance office, they have to enter the school itself to walk to the guidance office, which causes a security risk. The guidance office would also be expanded to include conference rooms so staff could meet with parents without having to leave the guidance office.
Struble added that the school has no adult visitor restrooms, so if an adult visitor needs to use the restroom, someone has to check to make sure there isn’t a child in the restroom and someone has to stand outside the door to make sure there is no child enters when the adult is inside the restroom. The project would also improve handicapped accessibility and add an additional elevator to the school.
The new addition is proposed to be constructed in the rear of the school on the left wing. School board member Gal Ralston said she was concerned about the loss of green space and asked if it would be possible to add an additional floor.
Struble said the school was not constructed to have an additional floor and it would be expensive to improve the current structure to handle the additional floor.
He said once the process starts, they can make decisions on what to do with play areas and green spaces.
He said core drillings still have to be done on the ground where the proposed new addition is planned to be constructed, and they have to determine how they are going to handle the additional storm water drainage and whether the current retention pond is sufficient to handle the additional storm water.
All school board members were present at the meeting.