Ringing Rocks Elementary School is showing its age. Its plumbing, heating and electrical systems need to be replaced. The roof occasionally leaks. Students and teachers could benefit from additional space, and the school might be more efficient if its existing space was reorganized.

So if the Pottsgrove School District could change ‘The Rocks,” as the building is lovingly nicknamed, exactly what would it alter?

Ringing Rocks Elementary School at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday.

Gilbert Architects Inc., a Lancaster firm hired earlier this year by the district Board of Education to survey all its buildings and future needs, offered suggestions last night (Sept. 23, 2008). It presented the board, during its monthly work session, with what Gilbert Project Manager Rod Frey Jr. called “a concept” for renovating and expanding the now 400-student building at 1401 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown.

Its conceptual price tag: $23.5 million.

Board members made no commitments. They discussed the building’s condition. They questioned proposed costs. They talked about their desire to better educate taxpayers months before moving ahead, if at all.

It’s been five years since the district last renovated a school building. Back in 2003, the former Middle School on Buchert Road was re-built as Lower Pottsgrove Elementary. That project faced its share of controversy, and the board is anxious to avoid a repeat.

The most striking feature of Gilbert’s proposal, board members agreed, was the addition of a second floor atop the Rocks’ existing roofline, but angled roughly 45 degrees to capture more sunlight. The idea seemed so different, district Business Administrator David Nester said, that he asked the architects to produce an artist’s rendering of the exterior. The full-color, computer-generated image was briefly displayed on a projection screen.

Reaction was mixed. “I’ll tell you right now I don’t like it,” said board member Robert Lindgren. He took issue with the second-floor positioning, with the use of curved roofs shown in the rendering, and with figures he said may underestimate the actual cost of renovations if completed by 2011.

“I’m kind of surprised how far ahead we are on this,” added board Treasurer Fred Remelius. “A lot of this is going to be about getting public acceptance. We really, really need to ramp up telling the public why this would be needed.”

Part of the architects’ assigned task since last February has been to determine facilities needs. Gilbert staff members talked with teachers and principals at each building, walked every corridor, and studied student population statistics. Their final report will be presented to the board in coming months.

Most district buildings, Gilbert Vice President Harry Pettoni indicated, are in good shape. On the plus side at Ringing Rocks is its framework. “Structurally, it’s very sound,” Frey said, noting that the building’s strength makes the notion of a second floor possible. Its highly polished terrazzo floors, he added, “are beautiful.”

But the failing roof and other problems have been mounting over the years. Its gym is too small, and its entrance vestibule is less secure than those at other elementaries. To accommodate full-day kindergarten classes and “future-proof” the building for possible growth of up to 200 more students, district Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis said, it also needs more classrooms.

All of which, according to district Director of Facilities Michael Katzenmoyer, made exploring the possibilities in a new Rocks worthwhile … even if only conceptually.