The campus landscape is changing as excavation and demolition continues for the Northampton Area Middle School and Secondary Campus Renovation Project.

"The progress they are making there is quite impressive," said Northampton Area School District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik at the May 20 school board meeting.

"The vocational school came down today – maybe about one-quarter of it is down," Kovalchik said.

"Tomorrow, they're anticipating installing the storm water system," said Christopher W. Haller, project engineer, D'Huy Engineering Inc.

Haller noted that aluminum, steel and masonry taken from the demolition of the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School is being placed on piles at the site for possible recycling.

"I saw them take an eight-foot beam right out of the ground like a toothpick," said Robert J. Yanders, NASD director of operations.

David Gogel, school board president, said he visited the site Saturday.

"It was pretty neat to see how some of these guys work," Gogel said.

In a related matter, Kovalchik updated the board on the May 16 evacuation of middle school students when a propane tank was hit by a piece of equipment operated by a construction worker at the site.

"It was an accident. A propane tank was hit," Kovalchik said. "The gentleman thought it was a gas line. That's why the precautions were taken."

The incident happened at about 7:30 a.m. May 16. The underground propane tank powered a generator at the vo-tech school. The tank was not in use. It was empty.

"We have an evacuation [plan] in place," Kovalchik said. The Al Erdosy Memorial Stadium and Northampton Borough Park have been used as evacuation sites.

Those sites will change because of the construction project.

"We're continuing to work on it over the summer," Kovalchik said.

Phase One, the construction of the new Stadium Drive, is to begin June 10.

The groundbreaking for the $80.7-million project was held April 22. Representatives of the district, school board and borough officials attended.

The school will accommodate 1,500 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. Each grade occupies one floor in the three-story building.

The new school will include a swimming pool with two diving boards, cafeteria, media center-library, a central courtyard performance and teaching area, borough heritage wall panels and trophy cases and a modern security system.

The vo-tech site will become a parking lot for teachers and administrators and will double as parking for those attending sports events via a new entrance to the stadium.

The stadium football field is being upgraded with artificial turf and a new perimeter track surface. A new stadium concession stand will be constructed near an improved main entrance.

The field house is to be demolished and replaced with a state-of-the-art facility.

Once the old middle school is demolished, a perimeter bus loop will be constructed for student drop-offs. A separate drop area will be available for parents transporting students. The bus loop will double as a parking area for those attending sports and after-school events.

The site of old middle school site will become athletic fields. Improvements will be made to the campus storm water system and electrical service.

Work on a new Stadium Drive, roughly from the site of the borough park tennis courts to the easternmost light standard in front of the old middle school, will begin this summer.

Work on the middle school project can be seen at the NASD web site: northampton.k12.pa.us/index.cfm. On the left side of the website's main page, click on the last "Quick Links" listing: New MS/Campus Project.

The website includes a project phasing information letter to parents, photo gallery, project news and a timeline.

The site also includes the number of days until opening day of the new middle school. As of May 20, it was 821 days.