At its November 27, 2018, legislative meeting, the Quaker Valley School District (QVSD) Board of Directors, approved the purchase of the final parcel of property the District needed to continue moving toward the community’s long-held goal of constructing a new Quaker Valley High School.
This approximately 13.75-acre parcel (to be determined through final survey and due diligence), which straddles the boundary between Leet and Leetsdale Townships, abuts the properties off of Camp Meeting Road that QVSD purchased in 2017 and 2018 to be the site for the new high school.
Acquiring this parcel will not require any new debt. The cost, estimated not to exceed $975,000, will be paid from the proceeds of the original $10 million in bonds issued in 2017 to finance the acquisition of properties for building a new high school.
The Quaker Valley community has long recognized the physical limitations of its aging high school building, which is nearing its 95th year of operation. The current facility has presented issues related to limited educational spaces, accessibility for all students, infrastructure for technology, parking availability, safe flow of traffic, and the high costs of repairs and maintenance.
“The need for a new high school has been clear for decades, but building a new facility on the current high school site is not an option," said QV School Board President Sarah Heres. "There is not enough space to meet the Pennsylvania Department of Education's recommendations and the updated floodplain maps of the current high school campus have made new construction extremely difficult, if not impossible.”
“We are so pleased that we’ve been able to come to an agreement with the seller for this parcel. This purchase is the last step in what has been an intentional, multi-phase land acquisition process that will enable us to address our long-standing high school facility challenges,” said Tammy Andreyko, Superintendent of Schools. “In 2019, we look forward to engaging the community in a deeper conversation which ideally culminates in a new high school for the Quaker Valley community.”