At Bristol Township Council’s upcoming Thursday meeting, the board won’t be voting on preliminary and final land development for the proposed 1,300-student new school at the site of James Buchanan Elementary School in Levittown as was previously expected. An official confirmed to LevittownNow.com Wednesday that the item won’t be included on the meeting agenda.
District Superintendent Dr. Samuel Lee said by phone late Wednesday afternoon revised plans for the Buchanan site had been submitted last Wednesday and he understood the reason for council agenda item postponement to be that the township engineer had not fully reviewed the plans.
Advertisements
Lee said he has “every expectation” the Buchanan site will be on the council agenda come January.
“We have every expectation the two schools – Emerson and Buchanan – will be open by September 2015,” Lee said, adding plans for a new school at the Mary Devine Elementary School site in Croydon are a “whole other story.”
Township officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Advertisements
The longer it takes for the schools to be approved, the higher cost for taxpayers, district officials have claimed. If students are not in the buildings by September 2015, the schools would not be able to open until the following fall, school board President Angela Nober has stated recently.
The school board voted on 8-0 Monday to seek bid proposals for the construction of James Buchanan and Ralph Waldo Emerson elementary schools.
Advertisements
The new schools are part of the estimated $152-plus million district-wide facilities overhaul would close the current nine elementary schools and have three 1,300-student buildings constructed in their place. Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School would close, while Neil A. Armstrong Middle School and the former Benjamin Franklin School, currently home to the district administrative staff, would be renovated for middle school students. Harry S. Truman High School would not see any major work done and Clara Barton Elementary School would be re-purposed into the administration and maintenance building.
Bristol Township Council is still expected to vote on a 2014 budget on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at the municipal building on Bath Road.
Related:
