Panther Valley school board members and other school district officials toured the construction project site at Panther Valley High School and they liked what they saw.

"I'm very pleased," school Superintendent Dennis Kergick said. "I'm excited. I think the community's going to love it."The project involved filling in the former high school swimming pool and then erecting classroom space on the site.There will be 14 classrooms on two floors that will house grades seven and eight. Grades four through six will be relocated at the existing Panther Valley Middle School.Kergick said one of the main accomplishments of the building project will be to eliminate most of the 12 portable classrooms at Nesquehoning Elementary School, which were necessary because of over-crowding. He said two of the portable classrooms will remain.Six of the nine school board members took the tour. They are board president Jeff Markovich, vice president John Williams, board secretary Michelle Markovich, Anthony DeMarco, Roy Angst and Irene Genther.Also participating were high school Principal Joseph Runnels, elementary Principal Mary Figura and business manager Kenneth Marx Jr.Richard "Skip" Laubenstine, clerk of the works, said the project is ahead of schedule on most things, especially mechanical, plumbing and electrical.The contract calls for the project to be completed by June 5, but Laubenstine said if the weather cooperates, it will likely be completed by sometime in April.The school is scheduled to be occupied by fall.The cost of the project is about $4 million.Bracy Construction of Allentown is the general contractor. The tour was led by Matthew Puchyr, project manager for Bracy."We had a tour of the new intermediate school addition and I was impressed," Markovich said.He was pleased with the size of the classrooms in the new addition and with the construction in general."I look forward to seeing the completed project," he said. "I feel it's a great asset to the district."Kerzick has been superintendent since June, after the project started, but said he is impressed with it."It goes along well with everything we've been doing," he said, referring to such planning tools as the district's comprehensive plan and special education plan.