News: Community offers input for new Upper Dublin High School

The community had its say this week at Upper Dublin High School.

The Upper Dublin School Board held its first community input session Monday night on the topic of green design, and a many as 50 people attended. Attendees included school board members, the Gilbert Architects, Upper Dublin residents, and more than 15 Upper Dublin High School students.

"We thought it would make sense to afford the same opportunity for the public and for the community ... to allow time for informal questions, inputs and opinions to help educate the process [of building a new high school]," said Superintendent Dr. Michael Pladus. "I love the fact that some of our high school students are here -- it really shows the relevance of what [they] do in school."

To kick it off, the board members and architects offered an explanation of green design, an art of design aimed at reducing a building's environmental impact. Board members also explained why the school board has decided to "go green."

"Pretty much everyone is doing some level of green school building," said board member Joseph Chmielewski, who hnoted that green desin will be cheaper in the long run. "It's not just to be trendy or to hug or tree or anything."

Students, mostly juniors at the high school, proposed their own suggestions for the new high school, which will be finished by the end of 2011 -- long after they graduate.

"To save energy, if we had large walls of windows we could use daylight to create heat in classrooms," said one student.

Suggestions -- from both students and residents -- included making floors out of bamboo or linoleum, buying fluorescent light bulbs, and using environmentally friendly paint. One resident advised the board to set a goal for how many British Thermal Units of energy would be used per square foot or per hour, explaining that the PECO rate cap comes off in January 2011, and that the cost of energy is going to rise. Other suggestions involved simply using recycled materials.

"We could also use recycled tires to make corks for flooring maybe for the locker rooms because it's good at absorbing water," another student said.

Gilbert Architects thanked everyone for their input and said they would take the community's suggestions into consideration.

Pladus also addressed previously voiced community concerns that the school's 5-year-old cafeteria will go to waste when the new school is built.

"One of the things that a lot of people did say during the process is 'can't you keep the cafeteria?'" Pladus said. "But that kind of limitation does greatly impede the architect."

After much talk about green design, others interjected with their concerns about the location of the new school, which is to be built on the current school's property.

"I think you've got a safety hazard if you build the school right here where you're planning to build it now," said Upper Dublin resident Richard Petruschke. "You're going to have dirt, you're going to have fumes, you could have asbestos, you're going to have chaos here with this traffic ... "

According to Pladus, the site of the existing high school -- at the corner of Loch Alsh and Fort Washington Avenues -- is the best option.

"In regard to site selection, we recognize that this is not ideal," said Pladus, who mentioned that the board has looked into other sites. "We have not been able to find a better site -- In Iowa, maybe -- [but] we have to build Upper Dublin High School in Upper Dublin."

Others still questioned the process of the site selection.

"My point is that I wanted to know if the evaluations have been thorough enough to say, 'we're stuck here, we're on this site,'" said Upper Dublin resident John Giungo.