School board directors received an update about the Pleasant Valley High School renovation project at their workshop meeting on Jan. 8.

“We had another successful phase turn over,” said Michael Sander, an engineer and construction manager for CHA Consulting in Bethlehem, formerly called D’Huy Engineering.

Of the renovation’s many tasks, the science rooms are completed. Sander said the interior is complete and the rooms have been set up with the new furnishings.

Likewise, the concrete floor of the new mechanical room has been poured, and the large open space has walls. And, Sander said, the new administration and guidance department area near the auditorium has steel studs installed for the walls. The walls will be taking shape soon.

There are also some parts of the school that “are no longer with us,” Sander said. Demolition of the original auditorium is nearly complete.

On the exterior, Sander said, “We’re fighting real hard to get walls enclosed.”

Crews are near completion of the exterior masonry walls, and the exterior framing and sheathing continues on the café addition.

School board director Norman Burger asked if they have found any more areas with gaps in the foundation. In July, a 2-inch gap that was 30 inches deep and 10 feet long was discovered under the foundation near an exit door. Sander said they have not had any new problems, but he has not ruled out the possibility that they could encounter another one.

Sander said that work will continue through the spring and then there will be “a mad dash in the summer.”

Director Denise Hopely questioned why unisex bathrooms were installed in the new renovation. Five separate unisex bathrooms have been constructed next to the cafeteria.

Each bathroom has a door that can be locked from the inside. The bathrooms can be used by one person at a time, either male or female.

Hopely asked if panic buttons were installed in the bathrooms, in case a student couldn’t get out.

Superintendent James Konrad said there were not any panic buttons since the lock is on the inside of the bathroom, so getting stuck in there shouldn’t be a problem.

Burger added that the five bathrooms are visible from the cafeteria, so the monitors will be able to keep a watch on the bathrooms.

“They are primarily used when meals are being served and underutilized other times,” Burger said. “It wasn’t a legal requirement. It was a space requirement.”