Marple Newtown School Board approves facility work, personnel contracts and multiple routine items; authorizes emergency fuel-tank replacement

The Marple Newtown School Board on an evening agenda vote approved a package of budget, facilities, curriculum and personnel items and authorized an expedited replacement of two 10,000‑gallon fuel storage tanks after a recent equipment failure.

The board voted to contract S. J. Thomas Company and Ferguson McCann to install two new 10,000‑gallon tanks and associated pumps and dispensers as part of what staff described as “phase 1” of the bus garage renovation. Board member Jake Bilker told the board that the district’s suction line failed “last Friday” during a parade and that the existing tanks, installed in 1992, were outside their 30‑year warranty. Bilker said the district had planned to bid the work in the spring but made an executive decision to use a KPN network solution to speed the installation.

The board approved the facilities package, including item 12.06 authorizing the tanker and pump installation. Bilker said the tanks have a 12‑ to 18‑week lead time and that the district’s goal is to complete the work by the start of the next school year. “That is the goal. Yep,” he said.

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