Skip is at it again with another installment of "State of our Schools". This one has to do with the reconstruction of the Phoenixville Middle School. I remember fondly reading the readers comments as they let their feeling be known about the removal of Meadowbrook Golf Course so that the sports teams could enjoy access to a megalopolis of sports fields entwined in a new sprawling campus.

I did not see the presentation and I hope it is on TV soon because the article leads you to believe that this is a done deal. It appears that the idea will be to do a rebuild on the existing site with modular units. For anyone that deals with consultants, this will sound like common knowledge, but if you don't deal with them, there is one primary lesson in dealing with them. Don't let them do all the thinking for you (the client). Of course the architect will tell you that a whole new building is better. No shit ($250 an hour for a public meeting to hear that)! They get more money for the plans and drawings and they have to do less work in terms of analysis and retrofitting.

There is a good example of renovating an existing building during the school year while using parts of the building. Just travel down Rt 29 to Great Valley High School. The renovation took longer because of the use of the building but it got done.

On the one hand we are being told:

Gilbert had called the building “a tired horse,” and said to the Board, “You can keep it going for $250,000 or

$300,000 a year. Until everything is shot.” All basic infrastructure systems need major attention, said school Principal Dr. Troy Czukoski. Since his arrival there in 2004, he’d dealt with electrical systems, plumbing, sewer issues. “Last summer, we had to replace two-thirds of the roof,” he said.

and then:

Hoffer had costed out a patch-and-glue renovation scheme at just a hair under $23 million. “But you also have to factor in anticipated operations and maintenance costs of a renovated facility,” Hoffer said. Those she estimated roughly at $310,000 annually. And, noted District Director of Operations Ron Miller, there was that other third of the roof.

So, do nothing and spend $250,000 to $300,000 or renovate and spend $23 million and $310,000 a year. The "other" option is build all new and save these useless costs. An absolutely slanted argument but one to surely be effective to those that let the consultants think for them. What we are not told is that with any construction, you should anticipate that you are spending the same on maintenance (over the life of the building), that you spent on construction. If we spend $50 million on a new school that has a life span of 50 years, we can expect to spend $1,000,000 a year average on that building. The only difference between the renovation and the rebuild is the life span of the building. A renovation will give you 10 to 15 year, I would guess. That will leave the board to consider this issue in the future.

Something needs to be done, that's for sure.