Mars Area hears second, $48M expansion option
ADAMS TWP — A consulting firm has presented a second, $48 million expansion option for the growing Mars Area School District after hearing a $36 million concept this spring.
Mars Area School Board held a special meeting Tuesday to hear the proposal.
“We’re going to pick up where we left off at the last presentation — where we had presented an option for what is now called ‘Option 1,’” said Jon Thomas, of Thomas and Williamson. “That was basically looking at expansions to the Primary School, expansions to the Elementary School and almost no work at Centennial.”
The ‘Option 1’ proposal in March came after a comprehensive enrollment and capacity study determined the Mars Area primary and elementary schools were operating at over 100% of their capacity, with an expected increase.
That proposal would make an estimated $23 million in improvements to the Primary Center — adding six classrooms, an expanded cafeteria and gym and a new STEM space.
For the Elementary School, it proposed an approximately $13 million expansion with 12 new classrooms, as well as a new kitchen, cafeteria and STEM space.
“So, tonight I’m going to go through ‘Option 2,’” Thomas said. “And ‘Option 2’ has its genesis from the last meeting where the administration and board members looked at what I had presented and said, ‘Hey, what if we looked at it this way?’”
The second option would look at moving kindergarten and first grade from the Primary Center to the Elementary School, and moving fourth grade to the Mars Area Centennial School.
Expansions would then focus on the Elementary and Centennial schools while converting the Primary Center into the Mars Area Administrative and Education Center.
“I think you’ll see some ideas tonight that are in a little bit of contrast to what we showed before,” Thomas said. “There’s a different rationale behind it, and maybe it’ll be an inspiration for some of you to say, ‘Hey, I’d like to contribute and share some of my thoughts on the committee,’ and maybe help build a hybrid option.”
The firm’s second option would include a nearly $6 million upgrade to Mars Area Primary Center, rechristening the current kindergarten and first-grade facility as an administrative and support hub.
“For the Primary Center, it’s a different kind of facility now — there’s a mixture of different types of spaces,” Thomas said. “We would have the district administrative offices (here), we would expand the offices into the boardroom.”
The renovations would leave a wing of open classrooms for additional offices or learning spaces as the district grows.
“We would have intramural spaces where we would have a physical education space, support space and then a meeting center that can be used for districtwide training or large group assemblies,” Thomas said.
Additionally, the current boardroom would be moved to the site’s cafeteria for a full-sized boardroom.
“Then in the front, you do have several districtwide programs ... that you could move to the Primary Center,” he said.
Moving the kindergarten and first grade to the Elementary School would then include a nearly $25 million expansion.
The expansion would include the addition of a single two-story wing with six kindergarten classrooms, 10 first-grade classrooms and one pre-kindergarten space.
“On the lower level we would have the cafeteria — you recall in ‘Option 1’ I showed two separate additions — this would be one continuous addition,” Thomas said. “A lobby for parent drop-off in the back, kindergarten at the lower level.”
The space would still include all proposed parking and paving renovations in ‘Option 1,’ as well as the proposed STEM space.
For the Centennial School, now including fourth-grade classes, the proposal would require an expansion in excess of $17 million.
“Now we would build a two-story classroom on (the east) side to expand the capacity,” Thomas said. “We will take out all of the ad hoc space for utilizations that have taken place over the years and restore them back to classrooms.”
The proposal also included building a second gymnasium alongside the existing one to create a potential “event gymnasium.”
While the district has no dedicated “event gymnasium,” Thomas said many schools utilize split gymnasiums that transform via telescoping bleachers for major sporting and academic events.
The proposal also included alternative locations for the event gymnasium at the primary sporting facility for the district: Mars Area High School.
Thomas and the board also opened invitations for an Citizen Advisory Committee on the project as it moves forward.
The committee, he said, would work with those in the community who were interested in helping “guide the process.”
It would include 30 to 40 people, according to Thomas — including parents, students, teachers, local business leaders, politicians and administrators.
“So we’re looking for a pretty comprehensive panel of the types of people who make up your school district community to participate in this committee,” he said.
The committee would meet at most twice a month to consider the two proposals and how best to facilitate the expansion for the community, according to Thomas.
Superintendent Mark Gross said the district will be releasing information about joining the committee on its website, marsk12.org.
“We want a good cross section,” Thomas said. “And we really would love to have some students on the committee, because, in my mind, they really become the most inspiring members of committees.”
