Little by little, the pre-construction process for renovation projects at Lehighton Area School District's middle and high school buildings are moving forward.

Lehighton's board took another leap forward Wednesday night by unanimously approving PlanCon part D and E, the project accounting and design development portions of the state's required timeline for large construction projects.While project estimates were attached to the approvals, Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver cautioned that the amounts are not what the district will be paying for the work. That will be decided after the projects are bid, also known as part F in the sequence.The estimates Lehighton submitted to the state were a base cost of $10.92 million for the middle school and $9.4 million for the high school.A number of alternates were listed for both projects and if all were selected, the estimates jump to $11.8 million at the middle school and $11.55 million at the high school. Estimates include Alternative and Clean Energy Program grants for both projects.Lehighton received $1.45 million for the middle school and $1.065 million for the high school.The middle school project includes a roof replacement, mechanical system overhaul, a secured building entrance, and exterior window and door replacement, among other improvements.Alternates for the project include double-tier lockers, new auditorium seats, a student dining patio, replacement casework in the science laboratories, and new rigging, lighting and sound equipment in the auditorium."The board doesn't have to choose any of those alternates if they don't want to," Cleaver said.The state requires that all possible alternates be listed at this point of the project."I don't agree with putting new lockers in," said board member William Hill Jr., forecasting his future vote on that alternate."I'm also concerned about what may happen to the auditorium. We weren't going to touch it because it has such great acoustics. Then the asbestos abatement project came along and the seats need to be ripped out, and we're talking about changing the rigging system and lights."Work at the high school includes a mechanical system overhaul, exterior façade improvements, a secure entrance, plumbing electrical upgrades and lighting upgrades.Alternates include an auditorium acoustical treatment, a metal roof replacement, snow guard replacement for the roof, selective flooring replacement, and a wrestling and weightroom in the auxiliarygym.In October, Lehighton gave approvals for $8.45 million in low-interest Qualified Zone Academy Bonds it was awarded from the state, a $10 million bank loan and $5 million in bank bonds.The district likely isn't done borrowing, however, as it still plans on building a $32.5 million elementary center to house its K-5 students, according to Cleaver."We'll do what we're calling a clean up borrowing for that project and it could be a bank loan, a combination of using some of our fund balance and a bank loan, or whatever the board decides," Cleaver said."In the end, we're figuring to see a $241,000 savings on our debt service each year. Some people have asked about the interest on the money we have borrowed and intend to borrow."Because we were able to get the QZAB and the ACE grants, that number has gone from $12.6 million over 25 years to $7.7 million over 25 years."