New wing at Butler Senior High School could be ready by April 1
BUTLER TWP — The sooner students can start getting into the newly-built classrooms at Butler Senior High School, the better.
The 10 new classrooms being constructed in a new 19,000-square-foot wing at the school are beginning to take shape, according to John Pappas, project manager for Eckles Construction.
Brian White, superintendent for the Butler Area School District, said that the classrooms could be ready for student occupation by April 1, which would alleviate some issues of space at the high school.
“We need that space for testing,” White said at the school board meeting Monday night. “A lot of temporary logistical things will get resolved very quickly with the classrooms available to us.”
The 10 classrooms will include a science, technology, engineering and math space; wood shops; 3D printers; and additional technology. The addition also includes a new auxiliary gym, which is also nearing completion.
White is drafting language for the school district’s new policy to supply certain personnel with naloxone, and the training that will go along with it.
White said that there have been three cases of students having adverse reactions to substances possibly like THC, found in marijuana, which would not require the use of naloxone. The district adopted a policy to carry naloxone at a December meeting, after a school board member suggested health care personnel carry it for emergencies.
However, district administrators are still urging parents and guardians to advocate against the use of any illicit drug to their children.
“These are not Narcan kind of cases we have been involved with; when we’re seeing people react in a negative way, we send them to a hospital,” White said. “It has to stop.”
The school board voted to have the district continue to be represented by the Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham law firm, which will charge $5 more per hour.
The school district will now pay a total of $195 per hour to the firm for legal services on a contract that will last through 2023.
District solicitor Tom Breth said the firm has staff members who handle disciplinary hearings in the schools, and the contract makes the pay rate of those staff members the same as the solicitors.’
