Pleasant Valley School District saw the beginning of the renovation of its high school in 2025. Work began after classes ended for the 2024 — 25 school year. By fall, crews were working to complete much of Phase 1 and started on Phase 2.

According to a report on the project to the school board on Nov. 6, the structural steel construction had been completed for all Phase 1 additions. The renovation project includes relocating the administration offices to the area where the entrance to the new auditorium was located. In Phase 1, the punch list work and scope changes to the auditorium, band room, library, choral and classrooms were 99% complete by early November. Roof construction was in progress.

For the cafeteria addition, slab on grade concrete was placed and the cafeteria toilet room renovations, which included wall tile and finishes, were 95% complete. Overhead rough-in in the cafeteria will continue throughout the rest of the school year and through the summer. Kitchen renovations are expected to be worked on in the summer 2026.

Ceiling grid installation of the upper classrooms was 75% complete, and new stud walls for classroom renovations were in progress. Wall construction is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the school year.

Then there is the mechanical room addition, structural steel detailing began in 2025 will continue through much of 2026, and the exterior masonry wall construction continues. Ultimately, the mechanical room renovation involves piping and getting new equipment. This work will run well into 2027.

The renovation project also included work to the parking lots. A parking lot next to the bus lot was created in 2025 and news striping to the lot behind school. Exterior site lighting work will continue in 2026, as well as rough-ins for plumbing and electrical systems.

The renovation project is expected to cost $87 million after the bids came in $15 million under the projected cost of $103 million.

Superintendent James Konrad said at the school board’s Dec. 17, 2024, meeting, “It was very exciting to see the bids come in: how they came in $15 million under what we had projected. I think that is an incredible task for anybody that’s going into large renovation projects.”

At that meeting, the school board accepted the bids from Lobar Construction Services at $38,261,500 for general construction; Myco Mechanicanl Inc. in Telford for mechanical construction at $13,894,000, as well as for plumbing construction at $5,551,000; Wind Gap Electric Inc. in Wind Gap for electrical construction at $14,288,370; and Sargent Enterprises in Jim Thorpe for environmental abatement at $576,324.

Konrad added, “I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to getting this project off the ground. It’s truly been a long process. It’s been about two years and obviously a lot of hard work and effort was put into this exciting project.”