Canon-McMillan Announces Plans to Build New Elementary School

A new elementary school is under construction for the Canon-McMillan School District.

At a special voting meeting on July 10, school principals voted unanimously to approve construction of a new Wylandville Elementary School, with a maximum construction cost of $50,417,000 and a maximum project cost of $76,120,650.

“This is a major milestone. This is the final step in the process that the school district has undertaken to implement a full-day kindergarten program,” said school board chair Liz Gump. “Plus, the community continues to grow in this area and we just don’t have enough room.”

A public hearing is scheduled for August 7 at 7 p.m. in the Canon-McMillan Middle School auditorium.

The new elementary school will be built on the site of the current Wylandville Elementary School in North Strabane Township, which was built in 1962.

When the new building is completed, the current school will be demolished and converted into parking areas and a multi-purpose sports field.

The new Wylandville school will accommodate an enrollment boom and provide space for cutting-edge programs, technology and physical activities.

The proposed school will be a three-story, 149,200-square-foot building that will accommodate 1,050 students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Each grade level will be housed in its own neighborhood of classrooms, team rooms and special education rooms. The school will have spaces dedicated to related arts and specialized programming.

Architecture firm HHSDR Architects and Engineers worked with the school district to design the new elementary school after it was determined that renovating the current school was cost-prohibitive due to several deficiencies.

According to a feasibility and facilities study, the district’s K-12 enrollment increased about 20 percent between 2006-07 and this year, from 4,456 to 5,349 students, and K-4 enrollment increased nearly 21 percent during that period.

Enrollment in kindergarten through fourth grade is also expected to increase over the next decade.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Scott Chambers said Wylandville was overcrowded and noted portable classrooms had been added to provide additional classroom space.

“With the number of housing projects underway behind and around Wylandville, we have seen an increase in enrollments and we expect that growth to continue,” Chambers said.

The new facility is part of the district’s plans to implement a full-day kindergarten and pre-kindergarten program.

According to Chambers, the school is designed to comfortably accommodate eight sections of each grade level, with a full-size gymnasium and a separate cafeteria.

“We took some of our favorite features from previous projects and incorporated them into this new school,” Chambers said.

Among those features are a shared stage between the gymnasium and cafeteria, as well as unique large-team game rooms (established at Canonsburg Middle School) for third and fourth graders. Two large artificial play spaces will be built behind the new school, with an area in the center that can be used as an outdoor classroom.

Most recently, the school district completed construction of a new high school in Canonsburg, which includes administrative offices. Renovations and expansions have been made to Canon-McMillan Memorial Stadium and the high school, respectively, and after the new Wylandville school is built, the district will close or repurpose Borland Manor Elementary School.

Construction of the new Wylandville school is expected to begin in January 2025, with a planned completion date of July 2026.