Construction Begins On New Keith Valley Middle School

HATBORO / HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —Construction has begun on the new $125 million Keith Valley Middle School.

After years of discussion about replacing a school built in 1957, the Hatboro-Horsham School District has informed residents that construction crews have started work on the new middle school, which is in the same vicinity on Meetinghouse Road.

School officials said the initial construction will focus on sediment and erosion basins primarily near the lower corner of campus along Upland Avenue.

The excavated dirt will be placed on the current football field. The district said it will reserve a part of the field as a “green space” for physical education activities.

Equipment and security fencing was delivered, and the fencing was installed in early February after the basins were completed, school officials said in a notice to the Keith Valley Middle School community.

With the installed fencing, the rear entrance to Keith Valley Middle School v via Olive Avenue will be permanently closed to vehicular traffic. School officials said that pedestrian traffic will still have access to that exit.

There will be construction driveways and staging areas created and surrounded by security fencing.

Contractors are expected to arrive at 7 a.m. and leave after the school day around 3 p.m.

The school district is now on its spring break.

In early December, the school board approved building the new middle school behind the current school on Meetinghouse Road.

During a public hearing at that time, Schools Superintendent Scott Eveslage presented three options to the school board, saying it was time to make a decision.

The superintendent had said that studies went back as far as 2008 prioritizing the project as high-level. He said further studies over the past decade placed the middle school at the top of the list of school projects and that the process intensified over the past 18 months through various meetings, proposals, and hearings.

No timetable was provided on when the new school construction would be completed.

The school district will be posting updates about the construction progress on its website.