The administrators encouraged attendees to voice their opinions on what parts of the school needed to be improved, with repeated calls for updated infrastructure and the poor air flow inside the building, which has created a mold issue in several locations.

“The kids are noticing,” said high school Principal Kyle Kane, who led the campus tour. “We owe it to our young people.”

Bedford Area Superintendent Allen Sell agreed that some aspects of the project, like heating, ventilation and air conditioning and plumbing updates, must be addressed soon. The exterior of the high school has several issues, too, including poor drainage and a crumbling staircase on one entrance. The original high school was built in 1924 with the last major addition in 1995, according to the school’s presentation.

At the meeting, community members viewed a presentation about the history of the building, the issues the district is facing and potential design plans from EI Associates.

Community members trek across the football field at Bedford Area High School during a tour on Thursday evening. Mirror photo by Linden Markley

The planned project would be split into two phases, Sell said, with the first focusing on updates to the high school building’s infrastructure and the second including a new potential gymnasium. Sell said this proposed project would aim to address the immediate issues with a total cost of $40 million or less.

“This project is about having a safe, modern and usable school for our students within the financial means of the community,” Sell said.

Sell said he and the administrators wanted as much public input into this project as possible, as parents, students and individuals in the tax base are shareholders in the school.

Sell said the project will be on a smaller scale than a previous high school project that was rejected by the board in 2019 due to its $43 million bid price.

“The issues with the building didn’t go away,” Sell said, “so we’ve been working with technicians and engineers to try another way.”

In order to cut costs, this project reduces the additions to the building’s footprint from the 2019 rejected plans. It will focus on updating the HVAC air system, bringing the building up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards and infrastructure issues, like the building’s roof, assistant superintendent Paul Ruhlman said.

“You really only get one shot at this,” Ruhlman said. “But it’s all got to be within the real fiscal constraints.”

Other issues brought up during the meeting included outdated clocks and alarms, updates to the auditorium and building security. The proposed gym would be larger than the current gym, be able to host tournaments and be ADA accessible.

To pay for the project, school board President Tom Bullington said the district will need an additional 1 mill, or $1 of property tax per $1,000 of value. He said this could be achieved by a gradual increase in taxes over the next few years, eventually totaling a 10% increase.

“We’re trying to make that part of the budgeting process instead of an event,” Sell said.

Taxes in the Bedford Area School District were raised for the 2021-22 year by 3.8%. Although administrators said the state funding window has closed for this project, other financing options could be available, including energy efficiency grants.

Some in attendance spoke out against the project, saying the large population of fixed-income residents in the district do not want to see tax hikes.

“We’re in a retirement community,” Richard Hite said during the public comment section. “There’s more fixed income here than anyone realizes.”

Others said that now is the time to act on the project, like student Rue Ann Fisher, a senior who has personally experienced problems with the school’s infrastructure. She cited issues with the auditorium’s sound systems when she worked on the spring musical and another incident when a teacher’s classroom flooded with water.

“It’s a question of how much you care about the students in this school and their ability to be educated without the building falling down around them,” Fisher said.

Another senior, Tess Koontz, who also serves as a student representative to the school board, said she hopes the school’s heating system is improved and thought that alumni of Bedford will not want to come back to the area if the school is not updated.

A ninth grade student, Elizabeth Rose, attended the tour and said that she was surprised to see the conditions of the high school after moving out of the middle school, which was recently updated. As a marching band student, she said she hopes the football field is considered in the project, as its unlevel grass makes it difficult to walk when playing her trumpet.

“While it may not be the necessity right now, it needs to be fixed,” Rose said.

Several parents in attendance said that they would like to see projects completed quickly so that their children would have a chance to experience the improvements. Brad Hershey, who has two students in the district, said that the costs of construction are only going to go up and that the educational building should be prioritized.

“This isn’t a can we can keep kicking down the road,” Hershey said. “We need to do something.”

Bullington said that if the board can get designs finalized on time, the school could open for bids at the beginning of 2024. If that bid is approved, construction of the first phase could begin at the end of that school year and take about 18 months to complete. The board’s next steps are to take the public comment into consideration and explore its options within the district’s budget.

“The only alternative is to let this building fall apart and let our children suffer,” Bullington said.

Overall, Bullington said he was happy to see the turnout at the meeting and hear a spectrum of opinions from the community.

“We’re footing the bill, so it’s nice to have this opportunity,” said Sharon Clapper, a Bedford resident who attended the meeting and has relatives in the school district.

Mirror Staff Writer Linden Markley is at 814-946-7520.