The new year brought the official opening of the new Chartiers Valley High School.
After a process that started in 2013, the more than $50 million high school project, designed for 21st century learning, opened Jan. 7 to about 1,040 students in grades nine through 12. The district was looking to reduce costs of maintenance and utilities and determined it needed to significantly renovate or replace the former high school, which was a unique circular shape and built in 1973,
Gone are the days of an interminable hallway lined with stark classrooms. Architects IKM Inc. of Downtown and BLRB Architects of Washington state designed the new four-story school and divided it into what are being called “learning communities.” Each community has a group of classrooms including a math, science, English and social studies class, as well as an open area in the center of the learning community for collaborative learning as well as its own set of restrooms and student lockers.
The classrooms are equipped with whiteboards and interactive Promethean boards, which allows students and staff to project images from laptops and interact with the board with touch or specialized pens.
In the collaborative open-space area there’s flexible space for learning as well as whiteboards and cork boards lining the walls.
“We wanted it to be more of a community,” said high school principal Patrick Myers of the learning areas.
“There can be unique ways they can work together,” Mr. Myers said. “The space is incredibly flexible. It’s a really unique design in that respect,” he said.
Mr. Myers said he is working with students on coming up with an official name for the learning communities.
“I love it. The space is just so nice for collaborating,” said Kelly Seigworth, who teaches ninth-grade English and yearbook at the high school.
“I call it ‘The Palace,’” she said.
Ms. Seigworth said she really appreciates having the flexible space.
“Really all we had were our classrooms in the old building,” she said. “It’s been really nice to get ideas off each other.”.
Scott Crimone, who teaches AP history and world cultures, was on the design team at the start of the building process.
“I love it. I love everything about it,” he said, adding that it was “surreal” to see the building finished.
“This is so modern and so futuristic,” Mr. Crimone said.
Senior Kennedy Beasley-Watson said of the new high school, “I really like the whole aesthetic,” adding that he thought it was “industrial” looking.
“I love the fact that all the new classrooms have large windows,” said sophomore Tanner Carlson.
Mr. Myers added, “It just has a fresh feel, we’re really proud of it,” he said.
The new high school was built in phases; the Applied Engineering and Technology wing opened last year. The stadium wing was completed earlier.
The high school’s performing arts auditorium will be shared with the adjacent middle school, as well as the gymnasium and pool.
The high school and middle school are located in Collier (but with a post office address in Bridgeville) and are connected by a skywalk so it’s easy for space to be shared. A separate middle school construction was completed last year. Here the approximately 725 middle-schoolers are grouped by subject in “towers” a concept much like the high school’s learning communities.
The cost of both school projects is about $94 million.
Even though high school students have been in their new space for a month, construction isn’t quite finished. The site of the old high school cafeteria and former middle school is set to be demolished in the coming months and a new student entrance and new high school administrative offices will be created. The entire project is scheduled to be complete by the end of December.
The district, with four schools, serves 3,420 students from Collier, Bridgeville, Scott and Heidelberg.
Details: www.cvsd.net.
Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: February 14, 2019, 3:58 p.m.
