The Middletown Area School District Board of School Directors voted to amend its civil engineering contract to pay for additional traffic work, a joint wetlands/watercourse permit and related roadway improvements connected to the Reed Elementary School renovation and associated PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit requirements.

The amendment, moved and seconded during the board meeting, passed by voice vote with no recorded roll call. The work covers extra traffic engineering, the joint permit application process with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for limited wetlands impacts, and redesign/realignment tasks at the Blue Raider Lane/Overland Road intersection and a new Greenfield Drive connection.

The board heard a presentation from Grace, of Crabtree, Roerball and Associates, who summarized the Reed renovation scope and cost estimate. Grace said the project will reconfigure classrooms so Reed becomes a grades 4–5 building (the district’s primary school will serve K–3), convert current kindergarten rooms to age-appropriate fixtures, create individual-use toilet rooms for special-education spaces, upgrade mechanical equipment (including a domestic water heater and the walk-in refrigeration system), and make selective faculty-room and finish upgrades. Grace described alternates and FF&E items handled separately from the base bid and said the project team reduced earlier scope to control cost.

Grace described the budget figures presented to the board: a construction subtotal of $1,100,000 and a total base bid (including soft costs and furniture) of about $2,100,000, with roughly $430,000 in bid alternates. Separately, the PennDOT-related HOP work for intersection and traffic-signal requirements was estimated at about $5,800,000; Grace said that figure had come down slightly as construction documents were finalized.

Mark Kraske, with KNW, detailed why the engineering contract needed to be amended. "This process dragged out substantially longer through PennDOT than anybody expected," he said, describing a traffic-impact study that took about 15 months instead of the 6–8 months the team had planned. Kraske said additional consultant time was required for the traffic study, for a joint permit application (because construction will impact a small area of wetlands and a stream), and for redesign work tied to an adjacent development’s previously approved driveway alignment. "After much gnashing of teeth, ultimately, PennDOT said, sorry. Theirs is already approved. You gotta move yours," Kraske said, explaining that the district must shift its driveway alignment a few feet to meet PennDOT’s requirement that opposing driveways line up.

Kraske said the team recommends bifurcating the roadway work into two approval tracks so the Blue Raider Lane widening can proceed faster and be bid for construction in time for the school occupancy schedule, while the Greenfield Drive connection — the portion touching wetlands and requiring the federal joint permit — can proceed on a longer timeline. The district’s current intent, he said, is to bid work in March 2026 with construction in summer 2026 for elements that must be completed before opening; the Greenfield Drive work may move into 2027 depending on permitting.

Board members asked clarifying questions about permitting, schedule and cost control; Grace noted earlier design reductions removed a planned group toilet-room renovation (about $750,000) to lower project cost. Mrs. Moore, the board member leading operations updates, thanked staff and consultants and the board approved the contract amendment motion.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to amend the contract with K and W Designing Environments (approved 11/15/2022) to provide additional civil engineering services (additional traffic work, joint permit for wetlands/watercourse impacts, roadway improvements for Blue Raider Lane and Greenfield Drive, and realignment to match the adjacent Union Knoll driveway): approved by voice vote (motion carried). Motion text recorded in the agenda.

- Approval of minutes from the Oct. 7, 2025 school board agenda planning meeting: approved by voice vote (motion carried).

- Approval of paid bills (totals by fund as attached): approved by voice vote (motion carried).

- Approval of unpaid bills (totals by fund as attached): approved by voice vote (motion carried).

- Consent agenda (items 10a–10e): approved by voice vote (motion carried).

- Facility use requests as submitted on the agenda (including forthcoming procedure revision for turf-room scheduling): approved by voice vote (motion carried).

- Various immediate action consent items and finance approvals covering personnel, operations and finance (motions listed in agenda ranges 12aa–12ae, 13ba–13bd, 14AA–14AD): approved by voice vote (motions carried).

What the board decided and why it matters

The contract amendment formally adds consultant work and budget to cover extended regulatory review and additional engineering tasks. Because part of the roadway work affects existing wetlands and a stream, the district must pursue a joint permit with PA DEP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; that federal-state process can extend timelines and increase consultant costs. The board approved a phased approach intended to allow the critical Blue Raider Lane work (needed for school access and occupancy) to proceed on an expedited schedule while the more complex Greenfield Drive/ wetlands work follows a longer permitting track.

The renovation itself will reassign Reed Elementary to grades 4 and 5 and adapt rooms and systems for older elementary students; the project also includes equipment replacements and selective finish and playground changes. The district’s cost-control steps (removing higher-cost group toilet renovations) were highlighted during the presentation, but the board was told additional costs remain likely because of required permitting and traffic-study extensions.

Implementation risks and next steps

Board members and presenters framed the implementation risk as medium-to-high because of external permitting (PennDOT and the federal joint-permit process) and the need to coordinate with adjacent private development approvals. The district will provide periodic updates to the board as permitting work continues; the presenters said they expect to return with bidding schedules and more refined costs as construction documents are finalized.

Board-approved contract amendment (motion carried) authorizes the district to proceed with the additional civil-engineering services described in the agenda.