Elizabeth Forward marks 3 years since fire at the high school

Superintendent Keith Konyk said many hard decisions have been made since the fire.

Today is the three year anniversary of the fire at the Elizabeth Forward High school auditorium, and a lot has changed since then.

During Wednesday’s school board committee of the whole meeting, Superintendent Keith Konyk said that a lot of hard decisions have been made since then, but they had to be done.

“I think it’s important to note that while that was one of the most challenging times in this district’s history, it was one of those things that this board and this community as a catapult to do some new things,” Konyk said. “It was not easy. No part of it was easy.”

Elizabeth Township Commissioner Adam Musisko presented a possible grant funding plan for the high school construction project during Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting. Sarah Pellis / Mon Valley Independent

The fire led to Phase 1 of high school construction currently underway and consists of renovating the high school current space, which includes building a new gym where the auditorium was and building a new auditorium at the other side of the school.

Konyk added that the district recently received its $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Economic and Community Development to help with construction costs.

Director of finance and operations Al Ragan clarified Wednesday that Phase 1 will cost $75 million total. Of that total cost, he said $60 million is earmarked for the construction contracts, and they have a 5% contingency that adds up to $3 million, and they have soft costs, which adds up to 18%, or around $11 million.

The new gym opened last month. Dave Macioce, clerk of works for the district, said kids enjoyed the gym. Board Director Thomas Sharkey praised everyone involved in the project.

“Over at the gym and surrounding areas, we are hoping to have (the rest) done by March,” Macioce said. “The concession stand doors are supposed to be installed tomorrow morning. The flooring for the weight rooms and the corridors is coming in somewhere around Feb. 20. They started installing plumbing in the locker rooms, and we are trying to get some touch up painting done.”

Macioce said the auditorium is also coming along, with the new stage, upper seating level, the lobby, a ramp that is ADA compliant and more are continuing with construction. They also are doing other work throughout the school.

David McLean of Mc-Lean Architects LLC explained some of the potential change orders this month and the pending change orders this month.

It is a total of about $507,597 in potential change orders, which consist of work on a retaining wall, limestone rock drilling, modifications at the gym entrance openings and more, according to McLean. The pending change orders this month total to $17,137.48. The district used 1.39% of its total budget on change orders.

Additionally, based off of most recent payments, general contractor Rycon Construction Inc. is at 82% completed, Lugalia Mechanical is at 96% completed, Moses Electrical is at 86% completed and Vrabel Plumbing is at 93% completed.

“This point in the project is where schedule wise, we are getting down to the last six months of work,” McLean said. “Where we have to watch is general contractor, electrical contractor as we go and finish the auditorium because the gym was pretty complicated. The auditorium is even more so. So there’s a lot of coordination going on right now.”

Elizabeth Township Commissioner Adam Musisko made another presentation to the board Wednesday to share resources to work together for Phase 2 of construction at the high school.

Musisko set the record straight that what he is discussing is all hypothetical, and they are not trying to build more fields, but rather add additions to the planned fields for Phase 2 for the district.

Bids for Phase 2 were voted on in December, and calls for adding classrooms and corresponding additional grade capacity at the high school. There will also be athletic fields, which were added as bid alternatives.

“We did not want to build (another) field in Boston if you were already doing it,” Musisko said. “We did not know that you were going to pull it off by November and get it issued. We believe with the pace and schedule of Phase 1, we think Phase 2 is going to stay on schedule as well. We believe that by the end of summer of 2027, that area will be ready to go, and we want to be a part of it.”

The field in the district’s original design include a multi-purpose field behind the auditorium, a softball field by the football stadium where the bus garage is, a baseball field up the hill from the softball field and another practice field next to that.

Voting for the consolidation of schools will come at a later date, but the first steps for Phase 2 are underway, with it estimated to be completed in the summer of 2027.

The lowest responsible bids for Phase 2 came back to the district Nov. 10, and the general contractor was also awarded to be Rycon Construction in the amount of $21,263,000.

The estimated cost for Phase 2 construction, based on the lowest responsible bids suggested, would be $29,516,870 with HVAC and other construction costs considered. The school board also approved a plan review invoice from Elizabeth Township for the Phase 2 construction at $39,000.

As of right now, there are kick off meetings happening, discussions on prepared materials, contractors are negotiating their subcontracts and more, according to Macioce, who said this all will take a bit of time.

Musisko said the township was going to move forward with building a muti-purpose field near the Boston Ballfield and fieldhouse as a sort of a Phase 2 of revitalizing that area because many sports, color guard and the band need more spaces to practice.

They quickly realized the desired size of the field would not work in that area, with the river, terrain and other complications that happened in other projects, according to Musisko.

After also realizing that the school district is planning on adding new fields in Phase 2 of construction, including a new softball, baseball and two multipurpose fields, Musisko suggested working together with the school district.

This is not the first time the district and the township have worked together, with the township creating a collaboration committee with the district after the fire at the high school happened in 2023. Musisko was also approached that year by then president Sharkey to help the district apply for a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant for Phase 1.

RACP is a state grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the design, acquisition and construction of regional, economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects.

Originally, the township applied for the grant and had the school district be the recipient, but it ultimately failed because they didn’t have a necessary line item.

According to Musisko, they found a way through the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority that would allow the school to be on an open line item for the authority, which allows them to allocate funding all over the county.

The school was then awarded a $3.8 million grant and there was a 50% match, which was around $1.88 million toward Phase 1 of the construction after the fire, which they applied for two years ago.

“The school would be paying the same amount of money they are paying anyway at $3 million, and assuming we get approved, would get $6 million worth of assets,” Musisko said. “The 50/50 match is extremely important. You guys are already doing it.”

Nothing is set in stone yet with the district and the township. Musisko said those applying for the grant can’t just show up and apply, but they have to go through a process.

The application, through the help of a grant writer, must still go through the Pennsylvania House and Senate with an application for future projects, and it must be approved before any grants are considered. Then, they can apply.

They also needed a preapproval letter saying this is something they want to do in the future, according to Musisko, and a new application went through the House last month with the Senate having to approve it in the coming months. He said they have everything they need to apply after the line item is approved “We don’t know if we can move forward without the school,” Musisko said. “It’s going to take a lot of effort, it isn’t easy, there’s no guarantee. We’re not going to have too many opportunities to do this. We have a chance to make one big universal complex without costing the taxpayers anything, and we are piggybacking what you guys are already spending on it. I think it’s common sense.”

Elizabeth Forward Steel Center for Career and Technical Education students Shaniah Gowder, left, and Emma Welsh were recognized Wednesday for their work at the center.

In other business:

• The school board discussed a collaboration between the district and Baldwin-Whitehall School District to design and implement a locally developed elementary badging solution that integrates with Canvas.

• The board is set to approve the graduation date on June 10, which is subject to change due to inclement weather, and the 2026-27 calendar next week.

Sarah Pellis / Mon Valley Independent
Elizabeth Forward boys golf player Blake Hvozdik was honored Wednesday by the district for being a WPIAL qualifier.