On January 16th, 2024 a total of 18,821 community members of the North Penn School District cast their votes in a referendum, determining if ninth graders should be brought to North Penn High School, which would in turn lead to full scale renovations and additions to the current NPHS infrastructure. . While the votes were close, the resulting decision was that ninth graders would remain at the middle schools and North Penn would start renovations of the high school with Option 2, a less expensive route.

“What ‘NO’ definitively decided is that ninth grade isn’t moving to the high school,” North Penn Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer explained.

Both renovations had an expensive price tag attached, one renovation sitting at approximately $400 million and the other at $237. 

“There was the basic renovation, which that price was listed at about $237,000,000, and then there’s the addition of ninth grade and do all the other things we want to do too, and that was more like $400,000,000,” Bauer said.“Everyone kept asking ‘Isn’t there something in between?’ and the answer to that was always yes, but right now we need to find out if ninth grade is moving, yes or no.”

Although both options were outlined very clearly, now that construction plans are underway, the district can incorporate the best of both options in their design plans.

“We are trying to incorporate a lot of the elements people saw in the renderings of the yes vote, such as wider hallways and more open space for students, and you’re even starting to see some of these concepts in the building now,” Bauer explained. “I believe that where we settle will ultimately be somewhere in between, as we always said, it won’t include 9th grade, but it will include some of the elements we were aiming to include with the yes vote.”

Due to the fact that ninth grade will remain at the middle schools, it is clear that the middle schools will eventually require a renovation as well.

“We’re working through the process of renovating the high school, and next on the agenda will be renovating the three middle schools,” Administrator of Secondary Education and Renovations, Dr. Pete Nicholson said. “There hasn’t been a ton of planning yet of what that will be, or of the exact timing that will be, but we know we have three middle schools that are in dire need of renovation.”

Many members of the community have expressed that they feel that the middle schools should be a larger priority for the district to renovate, and although the middle schools do need to be renovated, it has been far longer since the high school has been worked on.

“Penndale was renovated in the late 90s, the high school hasn’t been touched since the 70s. Even though this building looks nice in some areas, it looks clearly dated in other areas,” Bauer shared. “Our facilities department does a wonderful job at making this building look clean and look as new as it can, however, if you go into the bowels of the building, the systems- from HVAC to water, to piping, heat, air conditioning- the infrastructure in this building is really failing and it is far worse off than the three middle schools.”

Members of the current junior and senior classes most likely will not see any of the renovations take place during their time at North Penn, but regardless, students should stay informed on what’s happening within their community.

“When I was 18 I was attending a local high school, Souderton, and if a similar concept was coming up at that time it was, they were building a new high school and I really didn’t care. I just thought ‘I’m leaving here and going to Bucknell and I’m moving on with my life,’ well as it turns out I went back there and taught, I coached there, and my kids are going to go there,” Bauer said. “We can talk about the property values, the impacts on student learning when you have a new facility, and the impacts of more natural light and fresh air, but I would say to the student who is a high school sophomore, junior, or senior, you never know if you’re going to return to this community in the future, maybe even with your kids or grandkids.”

Not only is North Penn High School home to about 3,000 students, but it also houses many local events surrounding the community.

“North Penn High School is a community center, it’s not just a high school. North Penn is the largest high school in the area, it is the city that never sleeps. Whether you come here Saturday or Sunday morning, there are events happening all the time,” Bauer remarked. “Communities take pride in their schools and unfortunately when we walk in this building, I feel like a lot of folks in the community and those who are visiting think ‘Wow, this is North Penn High School? It looks like it was built in the 70s,’ and that’s because it was.”

A traditional high school environment has grades ninth through twelve in the same building, but due to North Penn’s size, that presents difficulty.

“I guess I would say there’s no change because ninth grade has always been at the middle schools. One of the motivations behind bringing ninth grade to the high school was to give our ninth graders the full high school experience,” Bauer explained. “There are disadvantages to having ninth grade in our three middle schools as opposed to here. When you consolidate your resources, you’d be more efficient, we could offer more courses to ninth graders, and they’d get opportunities like the engineering academy and some of our AP courses, and on and on, but it is what we’re used to at North Penn and I think we do it pretty well.”

The renovations are set to start shortly after school lets out, in June 2025. The district plans to renovate the school in stages, taking full advantage of summers to complete major renovations, like the auditorium.

“We have been, and are still pretty committed to, starting something in just over a year from now. The idea would be that we would start renovating this building in June of 2025, soon there after graduation happens. We need to take full advantage of summers when we don’t have students and staff members in the building,” Nicholson said. “There’s less worry and less logistical consideration when we don’t have students and staff here. The idea is that we would get the jump on this next summer and from there, it’s a long time, anywhere from six to seven years.”

Over the next few years, summers at North Penn will be a crucial part of finishing the renovation promptly.

“Summers are absolutely invaluable, so our objective is to be a component of the project, no matter how small, next June. Right now we’re hopeful it would be K-Pod actually,” Bauer noted. “There will be disruption, there’s no doubt, but our job is to try and minimize that to the best of our ability, but knowing there will be some struggles along the way. It will be dusty and dirty and there will be temporary hallways.”

Some of the areas will be getting a complete renovation, like the auditorium, which will be renovated to better accommodate programs like North Penn’s growing theater department.

“The auditorium, I think, will look the same, yes or no. It will get a total facelift, all new systems, new curtains, new speakers, new acoustic paneling, all of those things, so those will be spaces renovated over summers,” Bauer said.

Unfortunately, there will be areas that cannot be fully renovated, like the gymnasiums, but these areas will still be beautiful and represent North Penn’s level of excellence.

“We’re going to reorient the gym so instead of it going, what I would consider width-wise right now, we’ll have a main court that will go lengthwise,” Bauer explained. “The gymnasium will not be the imagery that we saw in the referendum. We were talking about adding a competition gym with two tiers of seating, stadium seating, and indoor track, all of those things, and that won’t happen, but I do expect that the gymnasium will look beautiful and far different than it looked in 1971.”

The idea of renovations has been floating around North Penn for almost a decade, now these plans are being brought to life as plans are officially underway.

“For me, this has really been an exciting process, just having worked in this building as an assistant principal and a principal for nine years and for a long portion of that having talked about renovation. When I first started working here in 2013, there was talk of a renovation and things didn’t go the way we hoped. Again, there was more talk about a renovation and then Covid happened, and being in the position I am now and being able to really be involved in all of the meetings and be part of the planning for the future of North Penn High School is really exciting for me,” Nicholson shared.

Thousands of community members have been actively involved in the decision-making process of renovating the high school; this decision has ultimately changed the way many members of the North Penn community see the district. 

“There’s a lot of community conversation about renovating this building, we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s a huge investment for the community, but it’s one of the most prominent conversations in the public,” Bauer explained.

As of right now, if community members want to have a better understanding of what this ‘NO’ vote means for North Penn and what the next steps of the renovations are, there are steps they can take.

“I would encourage anyone in the community who’s interested in keeping up on all the things to watch our Facilities and Operations Meetings, in particular the meeting at 7:00 on May 28th,” Bauer said. “We will be giving monthly updates on what’s going on.”

In the future, community members can plan to see more detailed information about renovation along with weekly video updates about what is taking place in North Penn High School.

“Once we’re underway there will certainly be a webpage on our website designated to updates where we can do video walkthroughs and interviews on a regular basis,” Bauer remarked.

North Penn School District also plans on getting input from students attending the high school in order to make sure this dynamic space is accommodating for all types of students.

 “We will engage students in some capacity. I’d like for students to be involved in the decision-making, to a degree. We’re certainly not going to involve students in every fine detail, but maybe we could talk furniture or about the branding of the building. The things that will really involve student life I would love for the students to be involved in,” Bauer shared. “I would also love for our students to be involved in learning throughout the process. If we could have the engineers and architects meet with kids on a somewhat regular basis, the kids who are interested, I think that would be really neat.”

Looking toward the future, Bauer and many others are excited about what’s in store at North Penn High School and look forward to the changes ahead.

“The day after the referendum failed, I went into a Facebook Live with Mr. Gilmer and I addressed it at a school board meeting as well, we’re turning the page. This has been our focus for well over a year and this building is going to be beautiful and be a sense of pride for the community. As things have evolved since January, I feel even more strongly about that,” Bauer said.

“This place has really become my home away from home, I spend so much time here and working with kids and it’s really been a fun process watching it come to fruition, I can’t wait to get that first shovel in the ground,” Nicholson noted.