Bid openings in Lehighton School District scheduled for this week will now take place at the end of the month, according to Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver.

According to an email sent Thursday, bid openings for renovations at Lehighton's middle and high schools will be held July 29 at 1 p.m. at the district administrative building.Contacted this morning, Cleaver said there were several reasons why the bid openings were pushed back, one of which was to allow for more time."There's been a lot of interest in the job, a lot of requests for information," Cleaver said. "Just allowing more bidders the opportunity to hopefully sharpen their pencil."Cleaver said the district has a code UCC appeals hearing that has been scheduled for July 28."The plan was to have the bids and award bids at our meeting July 27, but we did not want to present the bids to be awarded without knowing the results of the appeals hearing."Cleaver said the appeals hearing is to "finalize all the permits that are going to be required, and also to have all the permits approved before again awarding any bids."Estimates Lehighton already 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.At the middle school, the district plans to replace the roof, add a secured building entrance, and replace exterior windows and doors, among other improvements.Work at the high school is expected to include exterior facade improvements, a secure entrance, plumbing electrical upgrades and lighting upgrades.The only part of the projects which won't be bid is mechanical work, which includes a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.The district is also planning an informational session board meeting for Aug. 3 at 7 p.m.Cleaver said the bids would likely be awarded at the Aug. 10 board workshop, also scheduled for 7 p.m.