School districts offer new, renovated facilities
The red-and-white brick building along Bakerstown Road in Richland sprawls out into four sections. The gleaming white wall of the building's core reaches almost 50 feet high, with the cottage windows and angled roof of a country home.
It looks like the newest housing development in one of the region's growing suburbs. It's actually the newest school, Pine-Richland School District's Eden Hall Upper Elementary.
"People drive by, they see a townhouse and then they want to know where the school is," principal Robert Cooper said. "That's what we wanted when it was being designed. Community, home is what's important to us."
Eden Hall is one of two new schools, along with East Allegheny's Logan Middle School, and a slew of renovated buildings ready to open in the area. Hampton's Poff Elementary, McIntyre Elementary School in North Hills, and Baldwin, Shaler Area and West Allegheny high schools have all undergone major renovations.
Pine-Richland built its school for fourth- through sixth-graders on 36 acres of what used to be a farm retreat for women. Officials bought the land from the Eden Hall Foundation and the project cost $43 million, they said.
Part of the plan was to make the main section of the building reminiscent of the property's old farmhouse. School leaders call the building's wings, floors and four-classroom clusters communities, neighborhoods and houses.
"This is not just a school. Color. Exciting. Learning. This is a conducive learning environment," Superintendent James C. Manley said. "We wanted to personalize the building so young students don't feel overwhelmed."
East Allegheny built Logan up the hill from its high school off Jacks Run Road in North Versailles. The building will take eighth-graders from the high school building, and fourth- through seventh-graders from Westinghouse Elementary School.
The building is designed to handle technology, with a small flat-screen television and four computers in every classroom, science and computer labs, and motion-sensors for all lights, principal Harriet Hooper said.
"(Most importantly) it's just the opportunity to be in a facility that is state-of-the-art," she said. "We really have an opportunity here to instruct students using current technology in a beautiful atmosphere. I think that's something the students here really deserve."
Poff and McIntyre elementary schools are in the middle of renovation projects scheduled to be completed next summer. Poff has a new roof and entryway with a security system and administrative offices. McIntyre has undergone asbestos abatement and features a newly paved driveway.
Baldwin and Shaler Area high schools both have late starts because of their high school renovation projects. The districts share the latest start dates in Allegheny County, Sept. 8, though most Shaler students arrive the day before.
Baldwin is finishing its two-year-old renovation for January, when it will have a new auditorium, music area, and classrooms. Shaler officials are hoping construction will finish by November, Superintendent Don Lee said. The high school has added about 20 percent more space to house ninth-graders, renovated all of the existing space and installed a new heating and air conditioning system.
West Allegheny High School in North Fayette recently began work on its new 22-classroom wing, and the tennis courts are being relocated to the middle school part of the campus to make room. Renovations to the gymnasium also are under way, and workers are removing ceiling and floor tiles throughout the building to prepare for replacement ceilings and floors next year.
