POTTSTOWN PA – The decision on where to house Ringing Rocks Elementary School students during the 2010-2011 school year, while their building at 1401 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, is renovated and expanded, has been deferred again until the board’s April 27 (2010) meeting.

“There’s nothing final to present” for the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors‘ consideration, district Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis said Tuesday (April 13, 2010), as he briefly addressed the still-unresolved matter of where Ringing Rocks students will be educated.

Before the start of Tuesday's meeting Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis, right, consults with Pottsgrove School District solicitor Kyle Berman, as board Vice President Scott Fulmer, left, looks through paperwork.

Landis had hoped a decision would be made in March, he said earlier.

Work to refurbish the school is expected to get under way later this summer. The school board has looked into three options for Ringing’s population:

• Keeping students on-site while the construction work surrounds them. That’s been rejected by the board as unsafe;
• Moving students into modular classrooms and other facilities at the Pottsgrove Middle School campus, 1351 N. Hanover St. That’s met with strong opposition from parents and affected families; and
• Leasing the St. Pius X High School building, 844 N. Keim St., which will be vacated this summer as its student body is moved to nearby Royersford PA. Many parents favor that option, but the district initially considered it as costly.

As of the board’s meeting, which was held in the Ringing Rocks cafeteria, the district was “still doing environmental testing at Pius,” Landis said, to determine its usability, and also “is still working with real estate people” representing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which owns the high school.

Also Tuesday, directors agreed to submit an additional round of Ringing Rocks construction planning documents, known as PlanCon Part F, to the state Department of Education for approval. “This doesn’t obligate us to do anything, right?,” board Treasurer Fred Remelius asked; Landis assured him it did not.

Only board member Robert Lindgren opposed the PlanCon submission, as he has previously. Lindgren has tried, so far without success, to convince board colleagues to scale back the size and scope of the project.

Rod Frey, representing Gilbert Architects Inc. of Lancaster PA,  hired by the board for the Ringing re-design, was present at Tuesday’s meeting but did not speak publicly.

Board Vice President Scott Fulmer, who opened the meeting, announced the board earlier in the evening met in an executive session “to discuss a real estate matter.” He did not specify if it was related to the Ringing Rocks relocation.

Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):

• Township Legal Move Saves District Time, Money
• Economic Tales, Exec Sessions, And Long Night At Pottsgrove
• Geothermal Now ‘Locked’ Into Ringing Re-Build
• How Estimated Costs For Ringing Shape Up
• Less Is More In School Project, Planners Learn
• Bids Sought For Ringing Project Asbestos Removal
• Ringing Relocation Decision Possible In Two Weeks
• Restaurant, Ringing Projects Win Conditional Uses
• Ringing Rocks, Restaurant Hearing Topics Tonight
• Pottsgrove Student Enrollment: Up? Yes. Down? Yes Again
• Green Discussion At Ringing Results In Red Faces
• Pottsgrove, Archdiocese Still Discussing Pius Lease
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Discussion Set For Tonight
• In The Ringing Rebuild, Whither Pius?
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Plan: Modulars At MS
• Ringing Rocks Construction Cost Hearing Tonight
• Planners OK Ringing Rocks Land Sketch
• District Sets Dec. 3 Hearing On Rocks Budget
• Pottsgrove Asks State Help To Pay For Ringing Re-Build
• As School Opens, Progress On Ringing Rocks’ Project
• Surprise Enrollment Spurs Demographic Interest
• District Assembles Ringing Rocks Planning Team
• District OKs Architect Negotiations
• Consensus On Ringing Renovations: $16M
• Ringing Rocks Proposals Aired Tuesday
• Ringing Rocks Re-Examined April 14
• Pottsgrove To Trust-But-Verify On Ringing Plans
• Ringing Rocks Plans Take Another Step
• No Shortage Of Ideas At Pottsgrove Meeting
• Weigh In On Pottsgrove Renovations
• Framing The Rocks Discussion
• Response Mixed To Pottsgrove Improvements
• District Invites Public For Study Results
• A Different Rocks, But Only As A Concept

Related (to the Pottsgrove School District Board of Directors’ meeting of April 13):

• Pottsgrove District OKs New Bus Contract, Up 2.2%
• School Board Member Headed For Afghanistan Duty
• Wh’cha Reading? At Pottsgrove, Something Different This Summer

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