Kratzer to Get Portable Classrooms During Renovation

The Parkland School District plans to install four portable classrooms on the grounds at Kratzer Elementary School to allow the building to continue operating as it is renovated over the next two years.

The school district will seek approvals from the South Whitehall Township Zoning Hearing Board to install the classroom units, two storage pods and two construction trailers during renovation.

There are two classrooms inside of each temporary trailer the school district hopes to install.

The district plans to rotate pupils through the temporary classrooms as a five-phase renovation project works its way through the school building at 2200 Huckleberry Road, said Nicole McGalla, the district’s director of community relations.

The $9 million project is expected to begin in March and end by August 2015. About $175,000 of that expense will be the cost of renting classroom trailers.

The district is hoping to achieve a number of things with the renovation, including making the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act by—for example—widening doorways and upgrading bathrooms.

The plans also call for an upgrade of kitchen systems and a new traffic pattern to alleviate congestion.

The district also plans to move the school’s main office to a place closer to the entrance, a response to last year’s school shooting tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

The district is seeking a temporary use special exception or variances to allow the installation of six trailers around the school building.

The Zoning Hearing Board is scheduled to hear the appeals at its next meeting on Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the township municipal building.