Hempfield High School renovations on hold, here’s why

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Renderings from the Hempfield Area School District website show some of what the senior high school will look like after the $132 million renovations are completed.

Work could have started as early as this month, but now, plans are on hold.

The district sent a letter to parents saying the bids are $16 million more than expected.

Superintendent Dr. Tammy Wolicki was unavailable for an interview but directed me to a letter sent to parents.

“SitelogIQ, the construction management for the project, indicated that the difference from their estimate to the bids received are attributed to the availability of labor and materials costs,” Wolicki said.

“I would hope they’re going back to the drawing board, but you would expect that they would have put all of this stuff out to bid in the first place and known their cost to begin with,” said Michael Colcannon, who lives in the district. “$16 million is a rather large overrun this early in the stage.”

Going back to the drawing board is exactly what the school is going to do.

In the letter to parents, the superintendent goes on to say, “The administration, board of school directors, SitelogIQ and CORE Architects will revisit the scope of work and make adjustments to align the project with the budget.”

Other neighbors in the district who didn’t want to be shown on camera told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek they’re glad the district is rejecting the bids.

“I just think they should be able to cut something somewhere. Just seems very excessive.”

Channel 11 called SitelogIQ, the construction firm for the high school renovation project, but calls have not been returned.

The superintendent said even though work won’t start at the high school this fall, 9th graders who were assigned to go to class at Harrold Middle School will still do so.

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