Hatboro-Horsham Meeting To Address Keith Valley Replacement

HATBORO-HORSHAM, PA — Community members are invited to a meeting this week to address plans long in the making by the Hatboro-Horsham School District to replace the Keith Valley Middle School.

Superintendent Scott Eveslage sent a letter to residents on July 21 in which he mentioned that the district is in the early planning stages of redesigning and replacing the aging middle school, saying that for more than a decade the district has had the middle school replacement as a scheduled project in the district’s capital plan.

“The building in many respects is at the end of its useful life,” Eveslage wrote in last month’s letter, a copy of which was posted to a neighborhood Facebook group. “In addition to aging mechanical systems, outdated systems, and no air conditioning we aspire to modernize the educational model, creating a 21st century middle school to best prepare our students and serve the community.”

Eveslage stated that the district felt it was important to make neighbors in the community aware of the plans, and that there is “no better time for us to inform you of our thoughts and ideas for the school itself and the KV neighborhood.

“We have exciting building concepts that have only just been initiated,” he wrote.

The meeting will take place this Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Keith Valley Middle School auditorium.

Member of the project team is expected to present the design plans and solicit community feedback during a question-answer session.

Keith Valley Middle School is the only middle school within the Hatboro-Horsham School District, which serves students who reside within both the Borough of Hatboro and Horsham Township.

architecture and engineering firm the Schrader Group is involved with the Keith Valley Middle School project, according to information found on the group’s website.

The information posted online says that the firm hosted multiple conceptualization sessions back in January and February of this year and that this past spring, Hatboro-Horsham School District staff, parents and local municipal officials had the opportunity to participate in a planning workshop relating to the school redesign.

Tours of example facilities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region were also offered.

According to information provided by the Schrader Group, the existing Keith Valley Middle School is in need of “serious repairs,” and that many issues plague the aging school building, such as ADA failures and HVAC system problems.

The firm said it was ultimately determined that complete school replacement was going to be the most cost-effective option for the suburban district.

Schrader Group was also involved with last year’s renovation of the Crooked Billet Elementary School in the Hatboro-Horsham School District, and it says that the Keith Valley Middle School project would help continue the firm’s relationship with the district and “all of the wonderful people who live, work and learn in the district.”

The Crooked Billet construction project began in the fall of 2018, and it was completed in 2020.