News: Residents get inside look at high school

Almost 50 Upper Dublin residents toured Upper Dublin High School Monday to see the 59-year-old school's condition before the March 20 election.

"You look up at these exit signs," Principal Chuck Rittenhouse said, pointing to an exit in one of the building's original wings. "That's not a current Upper Dublin look - that's 1948."

Rittenhouse, a 1982 UDHS graduate, showed visitors the older parts of the building, which include the music rooms, gymnasiums and pool, along with the newer parts of the building, which include the cafeteria and science labs, and are only five years old.

The 90-minute tour given by Rittenhouse swayed some residents in favor of building a new school and left others asking, "Will this be torn down, too?"

"Absolutely everything goes," Rittenhouse said.

The orchestra room, which was built in 1961 and initially used as a changing room for drama students, drew many complaints from Jinny Hermann, the school's orchestra teacher. According to Hermann, the space is too small, there is an asbestos problem under the tiles, the ceiling is falling apart, the temperature is inconsistent and her students are forced to share the small space with others.

"We're constantly using the space together," Hermann said. "Every ensemble does not have its own work place."

Hermann also pointed out the lack of storage space for students' instruments inside the classroom and their lockers.

"His personal instrument would not fit in his locker," she said, pointing to a student's violin. "And because of the layout of the school, he doesn't even have the time to go and get it."

Gym teacher Bret Stover said that the East Gym's ceiling is not high enough, the weight room is too small for both boys and girls to share, and the locker rooms are poorly ventilated and of an inadequate size.

"Picture you have 80 players in there," Stover said, pointing to the boys' locker room. "The smell coming out of here is incredible."

According to Rittenhouse, the school also has several layout issues.

"This is a design flaw," Rittenhouse said. "You have to go outside to get to the pool."

Rittenhouse also said that the boys' bathroom at the pool, which only has one toilet and one urinal, can only be accessed by walking through the showers.

"It makes it uncomfortable," Rittenhouse said. "[And] with a cell phone you can take a picture."

The layout of the hallways is also a problem, according to Rittenhouse.

"When 400 kids are coming in and 400 kids are coming out," Rittenhouse said. "This is really an egress hallway."

But Rittenhouse, who is in favor of building a new school, also included the newer, unproblematic sections of the school in his tour.

"This is a refurbished, renewed cafeteria," Rittenhouse said. "This is an outstanding room."

Some of the general classrooms, such as the school's science labs, are located in the newer wing and have fewer problems, according to Rittenhouse.

"These labs are nice," Rittenhouse said of a science lab. "These labs were refurbished [and] are nice solid labs."

After touring all or part of the building, residents had mixed feelings about whether the school district should spend the money on building a new school.

"I think in a way he's making a case," Penny Hoeltzel said halfway through Rittenhouse's tour. "It seems as though maybe they just need to start from scratch."

But another resident, who did not want his name printed, brought up that the increased property tax would drive retirees out of the township.

"I don't want to live in a community with a bunch of families with students," he said while weighing the pros and cons of building a new school. "I want to live in a diverse community."

Upper Dublin resident Jack Craig, whose children have graduated and has been familiar with the district since 1977, said although he has yet to decide how he will vote, the tour was helpful to understanding the condition of the school.

"I can see things that I did not see before," Craig said. "And that's why I came here."

The special election, which will pose the question, "Shall the sum of $119,242,976 for the purpose of financing the construction of a new Upper Dublin High School be authorized to be incurred as debt as approved by the electors?" is scheduled for March 20.

If residents vote in favor of the $119,242,976 debt to finance the construction of a new high school, the developers will tear down the high school in sections and offer students modular homes in place of their classrooms.

"School districts are watching to see how the process goes," Rittenhouse said of the election. "It's a first for districts."