Residents who live near Penn Manor High School may experience noise from construction activity that will begin earlier than normal on Thursday, January 14.
Starting at 4 a.m. Thursday, workers will be placing deck concrete in a portion of a new building on the high school campus. Nearby residents may hear truck traffic, backup alarms, engines and generators while this work is being completed.
The work is expected to be completed by the time school buses arrive around 7 a.m.
Residents who live near Penn Manor High School may experience noise from construction activity that will begin earlier than normal on Thursday, December 10.
Starting at 4 a.m. Thursday, workers will be placing concrete slabs in a portion of a new building on the high school campus. Nearby residents may hear truck traffic, backup alarms, engines and generators while this work is being completed.
The work is expected to be completed by 4 p.m. Thursday.
Residents who live near Penn Manor High School may notice construction activity that will begin earlier than normal on Tuesday, Nov. 24.
Starting at 3:30 a.m., workers will pour concrete in a portion of a new building on the high school campus. Nearby residents may hear truck traffic, backup alarms, engines and generators while this work is being completed.
The early start time for this project is necessary to minimize truck traffic on borough streets during the morning commute. This will also ensure that workers have ample time to cure and finish the concrete during daylight hours.
The work is expected to be completed by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Penn Manor High School students and staff got their first experience inside the school’s new STEM wing as the school district kicked off the 2020-2021 school year on Aug. 31.
Students at all 10 district schools returned to classrooms under a Blended Learning schedule that provides in-school instruction for two days and online instruction for three days each week for most students.
Students in kindergarten through grade two and some special education students are attending school in person five days a week.
The blended schedule has enabled schools to implement recommended social distancing measures.
At the high school, students and teachers for the first time got to utilize classrooms, labs and gathering spaces inside the new science, technology and engineering wing.
The STEM wing includes classrooms, labs and shops for math, sciences, technology education, family and consumer science and agricultural education. The wing also includes a new auditorium, band, chorus and orchestra rooms that will be completed later in the year.
English, social studies and learning support classes have been relocated to the old math/science wing of the high school for 2020-2021, and the auxiliary gym is now located in the former temporary ag shop.
Phase two of the high school construction project will include construction of humanities classrooms with art and special education spaces, new administrative offices and a new library/media center.
Demolition to make way for this phase of construction was completed over the summer, and work has now shifted to the foundation. Classroom construction is expected to be completed by summer 2021.
Work will then shift to the third phase, which will include a new auxiliary gym and health facilities, which are expected to be completed in summer 2022. All site work on the high school project should be completed by December 2022.
We appreciate the patience of students, teachers and staff as we transition from the old high school to the new facility, which will continue to undergo interior renovations during the school year.
Many thanks to our families, students and staff for a successful start to the new year!
New photographs shot by a drone show how much progress has been made since June on the Penn Manor High School construction and renovation project.
Max Bushong, a Penn Manor High School junior, piloted a drone on July 16, 2020, to capture images of demolition of the 1958 wing of the school, which is being demolished this summer to make way for construction of additional classrooms.
The aerial shots also show the progress of construction of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) wing, ag shop and classrooms, and the auditorium being built on the site of the former high school parking lot.
Those classroom spaces, shops and labs are slated to open for students when school resumes Aug. 31.
You can see a live photo of the construction project here.
Many thanks to Max — who has been documenting the project since before demolition began — for his handy camera work!
New photographs shot by a drone show the progress that has been made in recent months on the Penn Manor High School construction and renovation project.
Max Bushong, a Penn Manor High School junior, piloted a drone on June 16, 2020, to capture images of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) wing, ag shop and classrooms, and the auditorium being built on the site of the former high school parking lot.
The images also include the first phase of demolition of the 1958 wing of the school, which will be demolished this summer to make way for construction of additional classrooms.
You can see a live photo of the construction project here.
Many thanks to Max — who has been documenting the project since before demolition began — for his terrific camera work!
Photographs shot by a drone operated by a Penn Manor student show in detail the progress being made on the high school renovation and construction project.
Max Bushong, a Penn Manor High School sophomore, has been documenting the project through photos since before construction got under way.
Max, who is a technology intern on the high school’s 1:1 Help Desk, piloted a drone on Feb. 20 to capture images of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) wing and the auditorium being built on the site of the former parking lot and ag wing.
Many thanks to Max for undertaking this project!
You can see a live photo of the construction project here.
Visitors to Penn Manor High School for athletic events or other events may park in two locations: the parking spaces near the cafeteria entrance and/or the parking spaces in the garage, near the main entrance. Please do not park in other areas.
For Penn Manor High School students and staff, the massive construction project that began this past year brought parking restrictions, relocated classrooms and the constant din of heavy equipment just outside classrooms and offices.
But it also provided opportunities for students to learn about real-world math, engineering and design applications, study the life cycle of trees and explore career options in the construction field.
Partnership for learning
A partnership between Warfel Construction, the project manager, and the district resulted in several learning opportunities.
Math students learned how construction workers and surveyors use trigonometry and algebra in the field. Agricultural Mechanics students learned about the inner workings of a temporary ag shop as it was being built, and Plant Science students got to examine the rings of a tree cut down as part of the project.
Warfel Construction also established an internship that enabled one student to attend weekly construction meetings and visit on-site work, and groups of students got to tour the construction site and learn about the excavating, plumbing, drywall, technology and other trades represented by the workers they observed.
“When there’s a construction site in your back yard, you take advantage of the valuable career exploration for your students,” said Michelle Wagner, support and transition teacher at the school. “This fits into our goal of transition and preparing students for life after high school.”
Experts in the classroom
Staff from Warfel and Boro Electric, the electrical contractor on the project, visited three of math teacher Gary Luft’s classes in April and May to talk about their roles in the project.
“The students were given an overview and the phasing of the total construction project, as well as an explanation of what was currently being done on site,” Luft said. “I think it was very beneficial for the students to hear from the experts in the field.”
Meagan Slates’ Plant Science class got to examine the remains of a giant tree cut down during construction as part of a “Tree of Life” lab.
Students counted the tree stump’s growth rings to estimate the age of the tree — more than 50 years — and then compared it to the tree they were studying in the lab.
“What is cool about this lab is that we had climate data from the Pacific Northwest that dated back to 1960 from the original lab we were working on, so we were able to use that data and the tree that was removed to estimate the growing season here in Pennsylvania,” Slates said.
“This was a great experience, and I’m so thankful that Warfel and the Penn Manor administration were so open to sharing these experiences with our students.”
‘Demystifying’ the industry
The interactions were designed to help “demystify” the construction field, said Warfel project engineer Kevin McGuire.
“We want to involve the students and then turn that into a discussion about what they plan to do in the future. What’s going on outside the window, and how could that involve you?” he said. “We need more conversations like that in the education field.”
Penn Manor is partnering with Warfel to host a “Careers in Construction Exploration Event” that includes a tour of the project and information about construction careers on Sept. 14. Learn more here.
McGuire said he hopes to continue the collaboration as the construction project progresses over the next two years.
Many thanks to Warfel and the Penn Manor teachers who helped make these unique opportunities possible for our students!
Want to see what Penn Manor High School will look like when construction is completed? Check out these detailed renderings and the “fly-over” video that shows what different sections of the school will look like. Click here .
High School Construction
