North Allegheny School District spent nearly $1 million over the summer fixing crumbling bricks, replacing a roof and installing two elevators.

During an Aug. 18 meeting, Rob Gaertner, district facilities director, presented the school board with a synopsis of construction projects finished, or nearly finished, during the summer.

The district spent about $861,000 replacing a 20-year-old rubber roof on the eastern half of McKnight Elementary and installing two elevators at the intermediate high school, he explained.

Another $200,000 or so went toward smaller improvements.

In addition to replacing 42,500 square feet of roofing at McKnight, workers also installed new roof insulation and metal roof edging. They relocated roof drains and replaced roofing, gutters and downspouts on McKnight's greenhouse, in addition to completing other masonry repairs.

Brickwork on Bradford Woods Elementary also got a face-lift. The five brick piers leading up the main entrance steps were removed and rebuilt, Mr. Gaertner said.

One of the most noticeable projects involved replacing two chair lifts with elevators at North Allegheny Intermediate High School. There were weight and other capacity issues with the older chair lifts, so the district opted to install elevators, Mr. Gaertner said. Part of the project included building nearby equipment rooms and creating a student activities space outside the cafeteria.

Mr. Gaertner said the school's principal, Brendan Hyland, asked if workers could create a room with glass walls outside of the cafeteria so students had somewhere secure, yet visible, to sit after lunch or sports.

There is another activities room at the school, and Mr. Gaertner said he wasn't sure if the new room would replace the old one.

Other projects included installing 14 additional cameras around the perimeter of the high school and 10 inside; installing an exterior door card key system at Marshall Middle School; and painting and making concrete, curb and parking lot repairs at nearly all schools.

Some projects are wrapping up and should be completed no later than Sept. 3, Mr. Gaertner said.

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