Palmerton school expansion on track

Palmerton Area School District’s junior high school expansion is coming along as planned, Superintendent Scot Engler said.

“Currently, everything we are working on is on schedule,” Engler said. “The iron is complete for the expansion, the floor is poured, They are in the process of enclosing the structure and roughing in the walls. The 480,000-gallon tank that we needed installed for the fire protection is in ground.”

Engler also mentioned that visiting districts were impressed with the progress of the project, and asked for advice on their own work.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the board also approved a motion regarding a change order from George J. Hayden Electric relating to the replacement of old lighting with LED lights within the district.

Engler said that the project will essentially pay for itself in the savings that are expected.

The order increases the contract sum by $67,822, raising the total project cost to $1,148,004.

SchoolDude

District facilities’ Angie Heiland has been hard at work with SchoolDude, an online scheduling software program for district facility-use requests.

“We anticipate that by next year, it will be up and running,” Engler said. “Last year, we fielded about 1,300 use of facilities requests. This will be a more user-friendly interface. They’ll be able to be online and see the dates and times our facilities are available.”

Once the software is implemented, those interested in using school facilities will be able to register for an online account, streamlining requests for frequent customers like booster clubs.

Engler said that the requests will still be put through the normal procedure for approval, but that the new system will expedite the process.