Pennsylvania school district to build $62.2 million elementary school

The Bethlehem Area School District (BASD) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, will replace Fountain Hill Elementary School with a $62.2 million facility. The district will demolish the 87-year-old school and build its replacement at the current site. The project is in the design phase. Construction will begin June 2025.

The BASD Steering Committee chose the first of three options for the school’s design. The three-story, 85,780-square-foot facility will connect to Church Street on the first floor and to Moravia Street on the second floor. The design also includes an access driveway below the second-level connection to Moravia Street.

The building features a 223-foot-long single corridor, classroom pods with shared support space and secured community spaces separate from academic areas. The first floor will include four kindergarten rooms, four first-grade classrooms, a pre-K space, a special education room and a guidance space. It will also feature a food pantry and a multipurpose room/daycare.

The school will have a gymnasium that doubles as a cafeteria with an adjoining kitchen and storage space. The gymnasium will have a stage, a music room, practice rooms and a mechanics shed. Other first-floor features also include an English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) and Large Group Instruction (LGI) room, a Learning PAWS space, a reading room, an International Primary Curriculum (IPC) space, a health suite and admin offices.

The second floor will have four third-grade classrooms, four second-grade classrooms, a psychiatrist’s office and an art room. Other spaces include a resource room, a special education area, as well as two rooms dedicated for students who speak multiple languages, a Small Group Instruction (SGI) room, a gifted student space and an education support room.

The third floor will feature four fifth-grade classrooms, four fifth-grade classrooms, a Spanish classroom, an LGI room and two SGI spaces. Plans also include a guidance room, a special education space, an OT/SP room, a grade education support room and a library.

The district will install more efficient HVAC and electrical systems, larger windows and overall larger rooms. The district will also feature a playground, a basketball half-court, a wide outdoor landscape and 51 additional parking spaces.

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