STATE COLLEGE - The State College Area School District has released the preliminary sketches for the elementary school renovations that were approved Monday night.
Ed Poprik, director of physical plant for the district, said these projects are long overdue.
Radio Park Elementary School, the newest of the three schools to be renovated, was built in 1962.
"When you look at a building that's in excess of 50 years old, you're really beyond the age of maintenance and into the area where you need to replace the building or renovate it," Poprik said.
Images of the preliminary plans for all three schools are included in the video above.
Radio Park Elementary is seeking to add three classrooms per grade, although there is an optional plan for four classrooms.
Three classrooms for every grade will also be added at Corl Street Elementary.
Both schools have students in Kindergarten through fifth grade, so 18 classrooms would be added to each.
The plan for Houserville Elementary is a little different. A new school will be built to replace Houserville Elementary.
"When that building is complete, we'll tear down the existing building. Lemont Elementary School, which is on a different site - we'll have to repurpose that building," said Poprik.
Poprik said the renovations will focus on energy efficiency and green standards.
"We are targeting all three buildings to be LEED gold certified, which puts them very near the top of building standards in terms of sustainability," he said.
Altogether the projects will cost nearly $50 million. The district has already received some state funding to lower the cost to around $44 million for the taxpayers.
"There's no specific tax increase anticipated with these projects," Poprik said. "We have a capital improvement plan, where we set aside capital monies on a regular basis for projects like this."
There's no official date set for when all three projects will be completed, but Houserville and Radio Park must be in use by June 2019 in order to receive the state grant money.
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