Panther Valley school officials are exploring how best to fix the leaky roof at Panther Valley Elementary School.

The school board voted 9-0 Thursday night to hire a consultant to assemble 'base plans' for a roof project.D'Huy Engineering Group of Bethlehem will perform the work at a cost not to exceed $10,000.Based on that information, the board will determine what repairs they want to do, based on the proposed cost of the project."We can either make spot repairs, or replace the roof. The whole cost of the package will be dependent on where you want to go," district business manager Ken Marx told the board.The board and D'Huy started on plans to fix the roof back in October. But the problems with the roof have existed longer than that.Jamie Lynch, a project manager for D'Huy, said that the existing metal roof on the building was installed when an addition was built onto the school in the 1990s. But the roof was installed incorrectly, using screws, and without gutters and downspouts. Complicating things further, the roof is sloped, while the original school roof was flat."The bottom line is that installation was less than desirable in the way it was designed, crafted and installed. There's lots of issues related to it," Lynch said.George "Smokey" Krajnak, the district's maintenance supervisor, said that his workers spend a lot of time patching leaks, and sealing screw holes that create leaks.There are a range of possible fixes for the leaky roof, Lynch said. The least invasive would be installing larger patches that cover sections which have already been patched - up to a full roof replacement.D'Huy will also look at a new way to get water out of the building's courtyard. Runoff that collects in the courtyard has to be pumped out over the building. They have agreed to report back to the board at the end of January.In other business, the board also voted to hire two new employees.Amy Craig was hired as a part-time transportation clerk. Sherry Shellhammer was hired as a full-time permanent instructional aide in the emotional support classroom at Panther Valley Intermediate School. Both were hired at a rate of $10 per hour.