The Panther Valley School Board is moving ahead with a nearly $1 million, grant-funded improvement project for the intermediate school.

The board on Wednesday approved an amendment to an agreement with the McClure Company at a cost of $960,000 for the project, which the district received a Public School Facility Improvement Grant.

Alyssa Wingenfield from the McClure Company, which is a construction management company that specializes in school energy projects, detailed the improvements for the board.

The district will be replacing failing windows and doors, domestic water heaters which are at their end of life and upgrading the water system, and electrical surge protection improvements, she said.

“So, it’s really great and I’m excited for you that you’ve got the grant, and it’s exciting that you’re taking on these projects,” Wingenfield said.

The Act 34 grant program was part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2023-24 budget and require a 25% match from districts. Panther Valley received $795,000, one of the highest awards among Carbon County districts.

The board’s action clears the way for McClure to begin ordering the doors and windows to allow for installation and construction over the summer, she said.

Solar project

Wingenfield also talked to the board about site selection for its solar energy project, which was projected to save the district more than $4.3 million over 30 years.

McClure reviewed four different sites around the school complex in Summit Hill, focusing on a wooded site behind the track. That site contained wetlands, waterways, critical habitats and was much steeper than anticipated, she said.

“So when we started to take all of that into account, the array actually started to shrink,” Wingenfield said. “The cost to install the array started to increase.”

The energy savings also went from $4.3 million to $2.8 million over the 30 years, she said.

McClure then looked at another site on the far corner of the district’s property near the soccer field and access road, which engineers hadn’t explored yet, Wingenfield said.

“The goal was to select this land and to tuck it as far back and up in the corner of the property as possible,” she said. “We wanted to grow the array as large as possible.”

The proposed array is actually on both sides of the access road, she explained, and there are no wetlands or waterways and minimal tree removal required.

Superintendent Dave McAndrew asked for clarification on the location, and whether the array would affect the access road or the district’s use of the property for the future.

Wingenfield explained that it would not affect the access road and electrical conduit would be install underneath the road. The firm would be held to setbacks under code and install an eight-foot fence around the array with locks, she said.

This site also increased the cost savings over 30 years to $4.4 million with projected costs of $3.75 million, which the district would be eligible for a minimum of 40% reimbursement from the federal government.

The board approved the site, and McClure will present actual project costs and projected savings to the district in January, Wingenfield said.

Business Manager Jesse Walck said after the meeting that the federal reimbursements for the district could be as high as 60%, due to the district’s proximity to an active coal mining site.

The project would provide all of the electricity for both the junior/senior high school and the intermediate school, and the district could sell electricity back to the grid, he said.

The district could also expand the array to accommodate a new school at some point in the future, Walck said.