In addition to discussions on , the Phoenixville Area School District board got an update on the progress of the new middle school building during Thursday's workshop meeting.
The plans include classrooms on the third floor, classrooms and large group rooms on the second floor, and an auditorium, cafeteria, music space and gym on the first floor.
Most of the building will be complete by the end of June, with some parts due to be completed earlier.
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There are also plans in the works to revamp the baseball field: plans which include extending the dugouts, and finishing both the topsoil and the paving.
The district will issue $25.4 million in bonds next year, which will finish out the middle school construction and allocate funds to make improvements to East Pikeland Elementary School.
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The board also recognized several students for recent accomplishments.
Color guard coach Heather Johnson told the board that this year's Indoor Color Guard competed so well that they moved off the Cavalcade of Bands circuit and on the Tournament of Bands circuit.
"We're currently 7th of 77 teams on the circuit, and there's less than a point between 7th and 3rd place," Johnson said.
The guard will be holding their annual Friends and Family Show on Tuesday, May 1, at 6:30pm.
Dr. Regina Palubinsky also announced that three students won the Phoenixville Area Social Concerns Committee essay contest.
Third grader Violet Noecker, eighth grader Krystal Nesslage, and tenth grader Alyse Phillips all won their categories in the contest. The award were announced at the committee's prayer breakfast on March 31.
Palubinsky said that the Social Concerns Committee's guest speaker, Vicki Carr, was very impressed with the essays.
"She asked if she could take the essays and use parts of them on her speaking circuit," Palubinsky said.
In finance committee news, the board announced that the Chester County Intermediate Unit has reduced their costs by $2.6 million in next year's budget.
Next year's budget will also include an increase in lunch costs for the district.
The lunch cost will increase by ten cents at the elementary and middle schools and 15 cents at the high school.
The cost increases are necessary because food costs are higher than originally planned.
The board will be working on the budget and voting on it next meeting and in May.
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