Community Gets Look At Latest Plans For ‘Future-Proof’ Pennsbury High School

The Pennsbury School Board and taxpayers heard a presentation last Thursday on the plans for a new 495,000-square-foot high school that is expected to start construction in the new year.

The new facility will be constructed on the south side of the current campus along Hood Boulevard in Falls Township and is planned to accommodate 2,800 to 3,000 students and staff.

The $269.5 million project is designed to replace the district’s aging two-building complex.

KCBA Architects’ Mike Strohecker outlined the latest design, which puts a focus on modern learning spaces and enhanced security measures.

The plans include a secure vestibule with bulletproof glass at entrances, a system that requires visitor vetting through driver’s license checks, and more than 300 security cameras monitored by two dedicated security offices.

Strohecker said the security features are designed to slow down an intruder.

“The whole idea in school security is to delay entrance to allow for law enforcement to get there and take care of it,” Strohecker said.

Classroom windows will feature laminated glass designed to crack but remain in place when struck the create a barrier.

Construction is slated to begin in spring 2026, with students moving into the new high school in August 2029.

After students transition to the new building, the current East and West high school buildings—both built in the 1960s—will be demolished by summer 2030.

According to Pennsbury officials, the district expects to solicit project bids next month, with submissions due in early March 2026.

Superintendent Dr. Thomas Smith noted that the plan is the result of years of deliberation.

“This is really the culmination of a discussion that started as late as 2018,” Smith said. “It really represents hundreds of hours spent by staff members, by administrators, by parents, by students, making decisions, having discussions about what this building needs.”

The project will add 14.6 mills to property taxes over four years.

For a median-assessed home valued at $32,000, the tax increase in the first year is projected to be $287, with 40 percent of that allocated to the high school construction and 59 percent to ongoing operations.

Smith said the district is aiming to keep increases below the maximum Act 1 index, which currently stands at 3.9%.

“Our goal is to come in under the Act 1 max,” he said.

The plans for the new high school have caused criticisms over cost and future tax increases, as debt repayment will most likely take place over decades.

Speaking of financial planning, Smith said Pennsbury has contracts with teachers and other staff locked in through 2030, adding that will keep salary budgeting predictable in the next few years.

The district plans to spread out bond purchases over several years to minimize the immediate financial impact and potentially lower projected tax increases if interest rates decline, Smith said.

Board member Chip Taylor noted that renovation costs for the current buildings would have been substantial.

Smith described the new high school’s design as “future-proof,” built to include flexibility and collaboration.

The design features open learning spaces, eight study “nooks,” a 250-foot-long commons area, and is intended to support a planned hour-long lunch and learning period for students.

“This is really about collaboration and about flexibility,” Smith said. “When this opens, we anticipate that the vast majority of our students will be taking at least one online class.”

The facility will include a 3,000-seat gymnasium, an 800-seat auditorium, an eight-lane swimming pool, and dedicated spaces for arts programs.

All classrooms will feature natural light and operable windows, a contrast to the current buildings, Strohecker said.

Additionally, the new building can be expanded for an additional 40 classrooms and 1,000 students through room for an addition, if it is needed.

The design also includes gender-neutral, individual restroom facilities and traditional boys’ and girls’ restrooms.

The universal restrooms will feature enclosed rooms with sinks monitored by security cameras in corridors, a measure intended to reduce bullying.

Strohecker said this design has been shown to reduce violence and bullying at other schools, but board member Donna Ahrens expressed concern about monitoring challenges.

The project aims to solve longstanding infrastructure problems in the surrounding neighborhood.

The new high school will include three large retention basins and eight to ten underground basins to manage rainwater entirely on-site.

Strohecker said the plan adheres to Falls Township’s strict stormwater requirements.

“The site and the surrounding site should be better in 2029, 2030 than it is now,” Strohecker said, addressing resident concerns about flooding on Hanford Road and nearby areas.

The architect also confirmed that site investigations, including professional wetland studies and geotechnical reports, found no evidence of wetlands or contamination that would cause major problems or changes.

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