York Suburban board approves advertisement to solicit bids for new intermediate school amid public complaints about notice

The York Suburban School District board on July 28 approved administration’s request to advertise and solicit bids for a proposed new intermediate school, after public comment and a project update from district staff.

The motion "to advertise and solicit bids for the new intermediate school construction project" passed with two dissenting votes after a motion, a second and board discussion. Board members did not name the dissenting voters in the meeting record.

The project schedule presented to the board said the district will seek authorization to release bid documents in mid‑August if the solicitation approval stands. District staff said they expect a roughly six‑week bid period running from mid‑August through September, a planning‑committee review of bids in mid‑October and a further board action on award in late October. Staff also said they expect a conditional approval step at the township supervisors’ meeting in November and a notice‑to‑proceed could be issued in mid‑ to late‑November, with a target completion year of 2027.

The timeline and the bid plan drew public comment both for and against. Steve Vermeij of Cherry Township spoke in support of soliciting the intermediate‑school bids: "I support the recommendation to put the intermediate school project out to bid. I really can't think of anything more edifying for this or any community than to build a school," he said.

Other residents criticized how the district publicized the required Act 34 public hearing on the project. Mary Hawkins of Spring Garden Township attended the June 24 hearing and told the board the district met only the minimum legal notice requirements and failed to reach the broader community. "That's called the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law," Hawkins said, adding that notices posted online and a single newspaper posting after the school year ended left many taxpayers unaware of the hearing.

Chief financial and operations officers and the project presenter told the board that required township and planning approvals are in hand or advancing and that bidding would occur only after formal solicitation approval. Questions during the update focused on scheduling, needed permit and recording steps, and the public hearing record.

The board’s formal action on advertising for bids was listed on the agenda as action item 10.1 and announced publicly at the meeting. The motion passed with the stated tally recorded in the meeting as two dissenting votes; names of individual yes/no votes were not read into the public record for that motion.

The approved solicitation will move the project from design and approvals toward competitive contractor selection; the district indicated it will return to the board with bid results and any recommendations for alternates and awards.

Proponents at the meeting emphasized long‑term educational and maintenance benefits of a new facility; opponents and public commenters focused on transparency of outreach and potential neighborhood impacts of construction. Board members did not adopt additional public‑notice measures during the meeting, but the district’s staff repeatedly referenced the statutory Act 34 process and the posted notices as the basis for the hearing schedule.

The district did not provide a total project budget figure during the July 28 meeting. One public commenter referenced a district spending figure of "150 plus million dollars" for the suite of building projects; the district did not confirm that figure during public comment.

The board will consider bid results and any contract recommendations at a future meeting if the solicitation proceeds as planned.