ADAMS TWP — Members of the Mars Area School District board unanimously signed off on a wholesale roof replacement for Mars Area High School during a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 19.

The move comes as the district is in the midst of repairing a part of the roof over the auditorium that was previously damaged by a windstorm and ahead of the first day of school on Thursday, Aug. 21.

“First phase is getting that first part done and then, as soon as possible, we’re going to do the entire roof,” said superintendent Mark Gross.

A quote from BurMac Commercial Roofing was approved at a cost of $464,175 that will be paid for with capital project funds. Gross said the expense was already included in the district’s budget, noting that $550,000 was set aside in the spring.

Officials said they hope to have the repair done shortly after school begins. There is no set timeline for when the entire roof project will be completed.

“(It’s) weather dependent and their availability, but now is the perfect time to try to get it on before the weather starts turning on us,” Gross said, adding that crews will work both during school hours and on nights and weekends as needed.

A presentation on the district’s ongoing elementary school project scheduled for Tuesday evening’s meeting was postponed to a later date.

“We were going to unveil some of the changes that we wanted to make to bring it under budget,” Gross said. “We’re 99% sure, but there’s a few loose ends we need to tie up on whether we’re going to do all of the changes that will impact the budget.”

Gross said officials didn’t want to present options to the community prematurely in the case they are abandoned later.

“We had a meeting before the meeting today to try to agree on exactly what changes,” he said. “But there’s different types of products that we have to decide on.”

Officials are still on track to reopen the bidding process later this fall after all of the construction bids were rejected in May because of cost concerns.