ADAMS TWP — The Mars Area school board reiterated at its meeting Tuesday, April 4, that its focus remains addressing capacity concerns for Mars Area Primary Center and Mars Area Elementary School.

District superintendent Mark Gross said he felt he needed to address the issue after seeing reports that the district received a proposal from a consulting firm for a $14 million new football stadium.

On March 29, the district held a special meeting with the consulting firm Thomas and Williamson where the football stadium was recommended. However, Gross said Tuesday that the stadium isn’t a priority, and the recommendation was more about what to do if their current stadium became unavailable. He said a new stadium would be at least 10 to 12 years down the road and is by no means a priority of the current board.

“The athletics came in at the end of the presentation when he was talking about looking forward, the board may have to look at things like the athletic facilities,” Gross said. “And that’s where the stadium came in.”

The immediate concern of the district are capacity issues at the two schools. At the March 29 meeting, the consulting firm recommended a $36 million expansion to address those issues. The primary center is operating at 105% capacity, while the elementary school is at 101% capacity.

“Basically, what was presented at the other meeting was a 30,000-foot view, conceptually, of what the board could possibly consider,” Gross said. “The No. 1 concern is capacity because we’re basically running out of room at the primary center.”

The first step for the board, according to Gross, is deciding in the next few months what to do with the two schools. He did not say whether they will move forward with the recommendations but did mention a few immediate, albeit far from ideal, temporary solutions.

One such solution that will be implemented next school year is having specialty teachers traveling from classroom to classroom as opposed to having their own. Gross described it as “not optimal, but all we can do.” He recognized the immediate need to fix the capacity issue at the schools.

“We need to have significant renovations to both,” Gross said. “Right now that is the priority. In these two buildings, we’re running out of room, and we’re running out fast.”

The board made several personnel moves, including the hiring of a full-time behavioral analyst. The position is new to the district and is intended to help teachers with at-risk students.

Tessa O’Brien will fill the role, though her timetable to start or her base of operations are not yet known. Her position will cost the district $98,691 annually, though the money comes from an Esser Grant, which is required to go toward security and social/emotional improvements for students.

The district also hired an additional psychologist this past year using those funds.

“For social/emotional we decided to use staffing,” Gross said. “We feel this will be very beneficial to our administrators and our teachers, having a specialist come in to work with teachers and administrators on how to handle students who have behavioral challenges as opposed to having them figure it out by themselves. We’re looking forward to having her.”

The board accepted the retirement of Robert Elliot, a beloved janitor known around the district as “Hero Bob.” Elliot received the nickname after an incident a few years ago in which he saved a choking child’s life by performing the Heimlich maneuver.

“He earned the mighty nickname of ‘Hero Bob’ which he doesn’t like,” Gross said. “I wasn’t part of it, but I hear it all the time. He’s just a wonderful person and fantastic employee.”

“He’s been here for quite a while and just absolutely loved. He’s one of our most valued staff members and a great loss to the district.”