Abington School District unveils schematic design, timeline and tax estimate for new Abington Middle School

Abington School District officials and project consultants presented schematic designs and a permitting-driven schedule Thursday evening for a proposed new Abington Middle School that would sit on the existing campus and serve roughly 2,200 students.

Superintendent Jeff Fetcher opened the community presentation and said the project evolved from a year of study, public input, a scientific community survey and feasibility work. Selby Nimawalu of Shrader Group Architecture outlined the site constraints — a township setback, riparian buffers and the requirement that the current middle school remain operational during construction — that determined the new building’s footprint. Nimawalu said the new building would occupy space now used for tennis courts, the cinder track and some athletic fields and would reorient the district’s athletic complex, including new baseball/softball fields, a synthetic‑turf core and a fieldhouse.

The architects described an academic design based on "team houses": 12 team units arranged across three stories for grades six through eight, with each team sized for about 150–180 students so the large school feels smaller day‑to‑day. Program elements include four…