The Abington (Pa.) School District will break ground this week on $104 million of renovations and additions at Abington Senior High School.
A key part of the project is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Center for Science and Technology, which will provide science, art and general classroom space. It is scheduled to open in 2020.
“After years of planning and design, the Board of School Directors and I are very much looking forward to breaking ground on what will be the biggest project the district has embarked on in the 21st century,” says Board President Raymond McGarry.. “With Abington School District seeing an enrollment growth of more than 10 percent in the past decade—by approximately more than 100 students each year—it became evident that we needed to find a practical and economical solution for our community."
Other additions throughout the school building: construction of an auxiliary gymnasium, career center and a new cafeteria.
The improvements will be the first major addition and renovation to the 1956 Abington Senior High School building in nearly two decades. Ninety-three percent of the existing facility will also be renovated, with an estimated completion date of 2022.
Abington Senior High houses grades 10 to 12, and the expansion will enable to move ninth-graders to the senior high. Taking ninth-graders out of Abington Junior High School frees up space to move sixth-graders from elementary schools to the Junior High building.
The reconfigured grade spans will enable the school system to revise its curriculum and provide high school students more flexibility to choose classes across a range of subjects and specialties.
