Ground will be broken on two new 1,300-student elementary schools in Bristol Township next month.
Credit: BTSD
The ground breaking ceremony will take place on May 15. Officials said the ceremonial ground breaking on new buildings at the site of Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School on Mill Creek Road will take place at 1 p.m. and James Buchanan Elementary School on Haines Road at 2 p.m.
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The public is invited to attend the groundbreaking on the buildings, which are expected cost over $41 million each.
While the ceremonial ground breaking will take place, officials don’t yet have a concrete date on when actual construction will begin.
School Board President Angela Nober said at a recently meeting the school project was just under 2 percent over budget.
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District officials said the cost would likely be lower and blamed the township for delays in the process.
See Inside Bristol Township’s New Schools
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School board member Jim Baker said last week that he hoped the township would cut the district a break on permit fees for the two schools. The Bristol Township Council voted, according to the school board member, to delay their consideration of the matter until next month, which will likely be after the district gets the permits. Baker said the township cuts some businesses entering the township a break and should do the same for the taxpayer-funded school district.
The district expects to spend more than $200,000 in fees to the township.
Some members of the council have been at odds with the board over the costly project.
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In news related to the project, district officials confirm they have choosen DWD Mechanical Contractors of Morton and QPI Electrical Company of Levittown to work on the two new schools. Nober said the two firms were the lowest responsible bidders.
The two Levittown schools were approved by township officials several months ago. Plans to build a similar 1,300-student school at the Mary Devine Elementary School site in Croydon are still awaiting preliminary and final land development approval from the council.
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Under the district-wide plan, 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.
