It’s a project some 30+ years in the making, and it’s not done yet, but ELCO’s $38 million expansion and renovation project of its Jackson Township high school is starting to bear fruit – and woodshop creations, 3-D printed objects, metal fabrications, and more.
The project won’t be fully complete until 2025, said ELCO High School principal Jennifer Haas during a LebTown visit last week, but the facilities in a new nearly 30,000-square-foot multipurpose wing built in a former parking lot has expanded and enhanced the school’s offerings.
Much has changed since LebTown last updated readers on construction progress in spring 2023.
Read More:
- ELCO expansion and renovation project modernizes high school, adds STEM wing
- ELCO High School expansion and modernization project underway
- ELCO explores $25-30 million major overhaul to 1962 high school building
Remaining work includes renovation of the auditorium, which began this month with the removal of seats and flooring, along with renovation of the former ag science classrooms into a new training space for ELCO’s emergency medical technical program.
Music spaces are also being renovated now, including the facilities for the school band and choir, and later focus will move to athletic facilities. The gym, locker rooms, and weight room will be renovated this spring, before the remainder of the building goes under renovation after the school year concludes.
“So we have a lot to go yet,” said Haas. But then again – a lot has been done so far.
ELCO High School was built in 1962 and last underwent major renovations in 1992. ELCO (or Eastern Lebanon County School District) serves students from Jackson, Heidelberg, and Millcreek townships, and Myerstown and Richland boroughs.
Much of the school’s 198,000-square-foot footprint will be made over in the course of the project. As previously reported by LebTown, the project is being paid primarily through four fixed-rate bond issues spread over the life of the project, federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants, and property taxes, which district officials said are targeted at low single-digit percentage increases annually to fund the improvements.
LebTown’s visit to the new STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) wing at ELCO High School included stops to the wood shop, the metal shop, the metal tech and tech ed classrooms, and the ag science greenhouse.
Haas said that the greenhouse will play a primary role in the plant science course at the high school.
“FFA students will also be able to use the greenhouse to do some of their projects,” said Haas, such as the independent projects that might count for one of the supervised agriculture experiences required for FFA members.
“So there’s opportunities there to expand what students have been able to do,” said Haas, such as potentially being used to hold FFA fundraisers like a poinsettia sale during the holiday season.
As for the ag mechanics program, its new shop area in the ag science part of the building will be used primarily to restore tractors – like the “best in show” tractors restored by ELCO for the last couple of Pennsylvania Farm Shows.
Read More: Lebanon County FFAers rebuild antique tractors for Pennsylvania Farm Show
“Students will also be able to rebuild engines and really just work on any type of equipment that you might find on a farm, and have those resources readily accessible,” said Haas.
The facility was designed with the district’s continuous improvement plan in mind, said Haas, which is meant to ensure that the district has thriving students and offers equitable opportunities for all students, who graduate with the preparation they need to succeed in life after high school, whether that’s college, career, or some other life pursuit.
The goal is facilities that really reflect what the community focuses on. “Agriculture is a huge part of our community in Lebanon County, but especially here in the eastern part of the county,” said Haas.
Providing facilities for students to go deep on interests like robotics, wood projects, metal work, and all kinds of ag-related endeavors will hopefully allow ELCO High School to better prepare its students for whatever life has in store with them, she explained.
“We’re allowing them to thrive and really pursue their interests and we’re being equitable in the opportunities we’re offering to all students.”
The school even hopes to bring a barn to campus at some point in the future, hopefully in a community partnership of sorts, but Haas said for now an expanded animal room and addition of a greenhouse are allowing the plant science program to thrive.
Coming soon to the slate of offerings is a food science course, which was approved this month by the district board for next school year.
Haas said that, so far, reactions to the new STEM wing are extremely positive, especially from tech ed and ag science teachers who now have brand new equipment and dedicated space to conduct their coursework.
“It’s a huge upgrade over what they had available to them before, which is just allowing us to offer more opportunities for students,” said Haas.
Other quality of life improvements include a new traffic pattern for student pickup/drop-off, which is anticipated for next school year.
Haas said that logistically, the biggest challenge of the project has been handling the movement of classes, since ELCO doesn’t have any trailers or relocatable facilities at its disposal to provide buffer outside the main school building.
“So as we’re going through each phase of the project, we need to be creative and find ways to move folks that need to be displaced from a current area into a different area so that their area can be worked on,” said Haas.
She said that students and staff have been great and cooperative in all the adjustments, some of which come spur-of-the-moment.
“We try to keep things in the building as normal as possible, but with any renovation or construction project, every day brings a new adventure sometimes.”
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