The new west wing of Ringing Rocks Elementary is sheathed in brown insulation.
Pallets of bricks await the masons
POTTSTOWN PA – After packing themselves into a couple of cars early Tuesday evening (April 26, 2011), Pottsgrove School District directors drove the less-than-a-block distance from the Kauffman Road district offices to the under-construction Ringing Rocks Elementary School, and were not only fresh from the journey but pleasantly surprised too.
“We had a nice walk-through,” Board of School Directors’ President Michael Neiffer announced upon their return from a tour of progress at Ringing, which is being renovated and expanded at a cost of about $16 million. “Much to our surprise, there’s been a lot of progress inside. It really seems to be taking shape,” he said during the board’s Tuesday meeting.
Structural steel frames its new front entrance
Wet weather has hampered some exterior work, so workers began other projects within already enclosed spaces, construction Clerk of the Works Tom McGrady was reported to have told board members. “Hopefully, when the weather get a little bit better, we’ll get some more done outside too,” Neiffer said.
One of the school’s most prominent energy-saving features, a geothermal heating and cooling system, soon takes center stage with some contractors. A field of geothermal wells, from which Ringing will tap into the earth’s relatively constant temperature, is already in place beneath the playground on its west side. The internal system that controls the heat exchange from earth to building is due to arrive for installation next week, Neiffer added.
During construction, classes are being held in the former St. Pius X High School building on North Keim Street, Pottstown.
Mounds of earth conceal the school's geothermal well system beneath its playground
Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):
- Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing
- No Power For Ringing Library Computers ‘An Omission’
- Blasting A Possibility, But Not Yet, At Ringing Rocks
- Few Change Orders, So Far, At Ringing Rocks
- Rigs Arrive At Ringing Site To Drill Deep For Geo-Heat
- Exterior Demolition To Begin At Ringing Rocks
- Digging’s Done, Now Real Work Starts At Ringing
- Ringing Rocks Ground-Breaking Set For Thursday
- After Month’s Work, Pius Deemed Set For Ringing Pupils
- Ringing Rocks Bids Accepted, At $1.5 Million Less
- Final Words On Ringing Rocks: Okey-Dokey
- Ringing Rocks Gets Final Plan OK
- Borrowing Authorized For Ringing Rocks Project
- Pottsgrove Signs Pius Lease For Ringing Students
- Pottsgrove Authorizes Pius Lease For Ringing Relocation
- Call Goes Out For Ringing Rocks Construction Bids
- Board OKs Ringing Rocks’ Preliminary Plans
- School Vestibule Design OK; No Decision On Rocks’ Relocation
- Ringing Rocks Plan Approval Held Until May
- Ringing Relocation Decision Deferred Again
- 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 Board of School Directors’ April 26 meeting):
- Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing
- Pottsgrove Got To Bargaining Business Quickly Tuesday
- Pottsgrove President Plans For Run As PSERS’ Trustee
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[...] Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing Members of the Pottsgrove school board toured construction progress Tuesday at the expanded Ringing Rocks Elementary School, and were satisfied with what they saw. [...]