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William Penn SD says Bell Avenue elevator funded; district lists remaining ADA compliance items
Summary
At the June 3 property committee meeting the district reported Bell Avenue is slated for a separately funded elevator project and summarized remaining Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance needs across several schools.
At the William Penn School District property committee meeting on June 3, facilities staff said Bell Avenue remains the district's last building where individuals with mobility limitations cannot access all floors and that the district has secured roughly $490,000 to install an elevator there with an RFP expected in the coming weeks.
The update matters because the district's facilities master plan prioritizes ADA compliance and district leaders said several buildings still require both building-code and plumbing updates — for example, stair-rail heights, entrance widths, sink heights and toilet heights — before they will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Darnell Deans, facilities staff for William Penn School District, said Evans and East Lansdowne were updated to meet ADA requirements as part of the facilities master plan and that the planned ninth-grade academy will be brought into compliance during its renovation. He said Bell Avenue was identified separately and that the district secured approximately $490,000 in state grant funding to build an elevator there and will launch an RFP "in the coming weeks." Deans also noted the building has additional entrance and plumbing issues beyond the elevator.
Board members pressed for detail. A committee member asked whether the Bell Avenue work could be “peeled off” as a one-off project so children with temporary mobility limitations could access the building now rather than waiting for a full renovation; Deans confirmed the elevator will proceed as a stand-alone project while other ADA-related items remain scheduled in the facilities master plan and dependent on broader funding.
Deans said he will follow up with more specific information from the facilities condition index assessment about which fixtures (student-level or staff-level sinks and toilets) are out of compliance at particular schools, and he acknowledged that other campuses including Ardmore, Cowen and Penwood Middle still require plumbing-review follow-up.
The committee also noted a security concern: Bell Avenue currently lacks a secure vestibule, which members described as a separate safety and access issue that will be considered alongside ADA fixes.
Next steps: staff will publish the Bell Avenue elevator RFP and return more detailed, site-level clarifications from the facilities condition index to the committee. Other ADA work remains tied to the district's funding schedule and the facilities master plan.
