The $80.7-million Northampton Area Middle School project received good grades during a meeting attended by nearly 200 Dec. 6 in the Northampton Area High School auditorium.

Following a 30-minute presentation by district Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik and Michael Kelly, principal, KCBA architects, more than one dozen district residents who spoke were generally positive as they stepped up to the microphone.

Several residents urged the school board to vote for the building of a new swimming pool as part of the project.

A new swimming pool is an option in the plan. The swimming pool now being used in Northampton Area Middle School will no longer be available once the school is demolished, which is expected to take place in 2015 or 2016. The new middle school is to be ready for classes in the fall of 2015.

"Everyone had a say as to what's important to them," Kovalchik said of the administration, faculty and community involvement in the middle school project.

"I think it's an excellent plan. It's a lot more viable than what I've seen before," said Mark H. Schwartz, vice chairman, East Allen Township.

The project does not only include a new middle school. Major changes to the Northampton Area High School and middle school campus include:

· Demolishing the field house and building a new one;

· Demolishing the former vo-tech school to make way for a parking lot;

· Demolishing the middle school to provide a new athletic field and bus loop (with parking for 50 buses and 180 for vehicles when classes aren't in session);

· Street improvements to what is being called the new Stadium Drive;

· New designated parking areas for students and faculty;

· New student drop-off areas for parents; and

· A new track and other changes (possibly artificial turf for the football field) at Al Erdosy Memorial Stadium.

Adding sports fields could provide more athletic instruction area and sports contest areas for soccer and field hockey and perhaps allow expansion of sports offerings.

"The trend in the area is lacrosse. We haven't made a decision on that," Kovalchik said.

The middle school project timetable is:

Summer 2012 - Stadium Drive improvements;

2013-15 - new middle school construction;

Fall 2015 - new middle school opens; and

2015, 2016 - demolition of current middle school, and bus loop and sports field construction.

The three-story middle school, which at 275,000-square-foot is larger than the approximate 183,00-square-foot middle school now in use, will have a central courtyard with classroom windows overlooking it.

Classrooms will be located on the three-story eastern side of the building, which includes sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes, with each grade occupying one floor each of the wing.

The middle portion of the school will house the middle school administration offices.

The western portion includes the cafeteria, gymnasium and, if approved, the swimming pool.

"Each level of the building has access at grade [street level]," said Kelly. "We were actually able to use the topography on the side to create a three-story building that won't feel like a three-story building."

Middle school student capacity is 1,500, with 1,300 students expected to matriculate when the school opens in fall 2015.

There will be 65 classrooms and 12 science labs.

One hallway will include a mural "to celebrate the history of Northampton," Kelly said.

During construction, a fence will be placed around the construction site.

"We're making sure to isolate the construction area," said Kelly. "All of the construction zone stays away from the active part of the campus."

"The whole crew in Northampton borough has been so cooperative. I can't say enough about it," Kovalchik said.

"It's been a long-time coming – 20-some years," said Kovalchik.