Jim Thorpe Area School District’s board of directors are considering several capital improvement projects for the 2024-25 school year including safety gates for play areas, tennis court crack repairs, lighting upgrades, a stadium sound system upgrade, and crucial repairs to a curtain wall.

Charlie Dresher, Jim Thorpe’s building and grounds director, said during a workshop Wednesday night that the projects are at the front of the line when it comes to safety and infrastructure.

Safety gates for play areas

In a project estimated at $6,696, three safety gates would be installed at the Penn Kidder Campus to prevent vehicular traffic from entering the play area in the front, lower parking lot, and the rear area designated for parent pickup.

“These gates would be planted in concrete; simplified barriers that will not lock,” Dresher said. “This is for safety purposes.”

The area, Dresher said, has been a consistent issue for the district.

“We’ve had several accidents since I’ve been here,” he said. “People driving into the concrete blocks and driving into the parking lot while there are kids out there. We have gone as far as putting large rocks along the edge of the lot to try to keep people from going into the grass and stop going around each other, but shy of having six or eight people out there with a green vest on, I’m not sure how else you can stop the erratic driving.”

Tennis court crack repairs

Another significant project is the repair of cracks on the high school tennis courts. The repairs would involve removing approximately 200 linear feet of failing prior repairs and caulking around 700 linear feet of existing cracks with rubberized caulk. Additionally, the courts would be repainted as needed. The estimated cost for these repairs is $14,300.

“We got an estimate for repairing all the cracks and recoating the entire surface, along with repainting new lines, and it was almost $117,000,” Dresher told the board Wednesday. “My recommendation is to do the minor repairs and then think about what we want to do here. These are not cracks in the parking lot. If you don’t do them right, they’re going to come back again and again.”

Lighting upgrades

Lighting upgrades would also be completed at the Penn Kidder Campus. The project would include the installation of two new light posts, raising all light posts to prevent water damage, and installing a photocell and contactor for automatic lighting control.

“The lights up there now are on timers, but with the photocell you won’t have to adjust that,” Dresher said. “They go on when it gets dark and they go off when it gets light.”

The project is estimated to cost $7,300.

Stadium sound system upgrade

The high school stadium would see an upgrade to its sound system, which would include wireless microphones and assisted listening devices. The project is estimated at $11,884.

Curtain wall repairs

The top 2-3 feet of the over-6-foot-tall wall at the Penn Kidder Campus has become unstable, Dresher said, and poses a safety risk to children during outdoor activities.

“The top three feet of the wall is pulling away from the block to the point where it can’t stay that way this winter,” he said. “I don’t even feel safe about it when the kids come back in the fall.

The cost for the repairs is $53,422.

Board approval

While the items have yet to be voted on, Jim Thorpe board members said Wednesday night safety items are a priority.

“If there’s a safety issue, I don’t see any reason why we would say let’s not do it the right way when there’s kids involved, “ director Mary Figura said. “You don’t have to sell it to us. If you’re telling me a wall is going to fall and kids are playing there, there is no question it needs to get done.”