By Kevin Ma
W.D. Cuts students came back to more than just pencils, books, and teachers' dirty looks this week – there were also bulldozers.
W.D. Cuts Junior High is in the midst of a $10-million renovation. Even though most of the school is now a construction zone, class is still in session for the school's 315 students.
Grade 8 student Cameron Clark said he was surprised to see how much the school had changed since last year.
"All of our old lockers were gone," he says, and many old classrooms have moved.
Fellow student Christopher Biddle remembers the initial excavation starting up by his classroom last June, and says he's impressed by the amount of work that got done over the summer.
"All the roofs are out," he says, referring to the ceiling tiles, and a huge steel superstructure has gone up in the back of the school.
The school now has an Ikea-esque look to it with exposed ventilation ducts, plywood doors and – in construction areas – bare concrete floors. A Bobcat is busy moving earth out back, while crews inside smash walls and drill holes for new rooms.
Despite this, all the school's courses and sports programs are going ahead as planned, says principal Mike Tod.
"Business as usual."
Big change ahead
The province announced this renovation in January 2014, Tod says. Crews are slightly behind schedule but working hard to catch up.
"Right up to Sunday (Aug. 30) we couldn't park here," he says, standing in the school's new parking lot – they finished it just in time for school on Monday.
The renovation is meant to modernize the school's ventilation and electrical systems and give it a home economics, computer, and industrial arts lab, Tod says. The school is currently the only junior high in the province without an industrial arts or home economics lab.
"We're really excited about really giving (students) a full spectrum of options."
The school is working with construction crews so that all loud work is done in the afternoon, which is when Cuts schedules its option classes. Crews are renovating blocks of rooms three at a time so that students can be shuffled into other rooms.
The school's eight old modulars have been detached from the main building to create an "island" of classrooms behind the parking lot, Tod says. Next to them is the portable washroom unit that's subbing in for the regular washroom, which is getting upgraded with efficient fixtures and waterless urinals and should be ready next month.
The steel superstructure in the back should be fully enclosed by October, Tod continues. It will house the school's new band room and shop class, and will connect to eight new modulars set to arrive later this school year (at which point the old ones will be removed).
"The big job is when they do this middle here," Tod says, pointing to a large open area on the plans for the renovation.
Crews will take out several walls in the middle of the school to create a large common area. The school's drama, computer, and library rooms will all open into this zone, with sliding walls closing them off when needed. This zone will serve as an audience area for school plays and create an "educational flow" of students between the library and the computer lab, Tod says.
The school's gym will also get a new floor and score clock as part of the renovation, Tod says. Work on the gym won't start until after badminton season, though, so the school's sports teams won't be affected.
Biddle says the construction hasn't been too disruptive, although the workers do sometimes get in the way in the mornings.
"Once in a while there's a bang or something. Not much."
He says he's looking forward to the new options the renovations will create next year, as well as the new gym.
The renovation should be complete by October 2016, Tod said.
Sturgeon renos
Sturgeon Composite High started its $35-million renovation last Aug. 5, said principal John Baldassarre. It was supposed to happen last year, but was delayed by the province.
"They're opening up a tonne of space," he said, and have already knocked out the big concrete planters that clogged many of the halls.
Sturgeon Composite's renovation will replace the school's heating, electrical and ventilation systems, revamp the roof, improve wall insulation, expand the cosmetology and CTS labs, and move the main office to the front of the school – it used to be in the middle of the building.
"There won't be a spot in this building that will be untouched," Baldassarre says.
The school was surprised to learn last week that renovations to one of the school's gyms had been moved up to this term from next year, he says. This may affect the school's volleyball and basketball teams because the other gym doesn't have bleachers for home games, and staffers are working on a solution.
The Sturgeon Composite renovations should be done by 2017.
