With students set to return soon, Jim Thorpe Area School District officials highlighted completed building projects and near-finished work during a school board committee meeting Wednesday night.

“The roof project at the high school is almost complete,” Superintendent Robert Presley said. “Some minor items will be finished next week. We’ll be walking the roof with the company and Tremco to do a final walkthrough, identify any problems that need to be fixed before we sign off on it, and before we pay the entire bill.”

In January, Jim Thorpe approved C & D Waterproofing Corp. to repair the high school roofs numbered 1,2,3,5,8,9,10,14 and a cricket installation on roof 3 at a cost of $843,332.87 with $322,000 to be paid through the Public School Facility Improvement Program grant.

Baseball field improvements are also advancing.

“We hope to have it seeded in the coming weeks,” Presley said, “so that it will be ready for use in the spring.”

Parking lots in the district have also received a touch up.

“The lines have been redone in the parking lots, as well as the handicapped spaces at all facilities where needed,” Presley said. “Yellow paint will be applied in the coming weeks as the weather and time permit, and signs will be installed where needed.”

At the high school, bathroom repairs and a water pump replacement are scheduled to be done before students return.

“We’re removing three of the water pumps and installing new ones,” Presley said. “The sinks will be fixed, there will be new faucets and stall repairs will be made.”

One maintenance note Wednesday involved paper towel dispensers. The district no longer uses them at the high school because it has hand dryers and the building administration has asked for them to be removed due to students hiding vapes in them.

Another big summer project at the high school was the gym floor refurbishment.

“It was brought straight down to the bare wood,” Presley said. “All the paint was removed, it was repainted and resealed, and they are practicing on it today. It was a little behind schedule, but we were still able to finish it before the sports season started this week.”

Miller Sports Construction did the resurfacing at a cost of $52,500.

Penn Kidder Campus

Hot water heaters were installed and are operational at the Penn Kidder Campus, Presley said, though “final adjustments will be made once the kitchen is up and running to make sure they’re working properly.”

The board approved the purchase and installation of the two hot water boilers in April at a cost of $88,440.36.

Carpet replacement at the school “is on schedule and should be completed by next week,” and “mulch for the playground has been installed.”

Traffic lights on Route 903 at Penn Kidder are still awaiting parts for replacement, Presley said.

“The lights that were quoted by the company can’t be obtained,” he added. “They’re looking for a new supplier. The delay is just getting the actual traffic light itself.”

Technology upgrades

Technology upgrades have also been a major focus over the summer months including new active panels across district classrooms.

“Right before I came here, I mounted the last one over at L.B.,” Rob Moyzan, the district’s director of technology said. “Installation was really a team effort and it was really great to see everyone who pitched in to help.”

In addition to the basics, teachers also have access to training videos that show how they can use the board specific to their subject area.

“Apps that teachers would use on their iPad, they can actually put them on the board,” Moyzan said. “For example, a teacher could build a Jeopardy game and the kids could have their device in front of them and use that to ring in and answer the question. It’s pretty incredible what they can do.”