THUNDER BAY - Students with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board will be greeted by some significant improvements to schools in the city following a busy summer renovation season.
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board is spending more than $2.2 million this summer on upgrades and renovations at seven schools.
“Most of our renovation projects are related to health and safety of our students,” said Sheila Chiodo, superintendent of business and corporate services with the school board. “We have some playground areas and some parking lots where the pavement over the years has deteriorated.”
Paving work is being completed at St. Bernard, St. Pius, Pope John Paul II, and E.Q. Jennings, with a cost of $938,085. St. Patrick’s High School is receiving an upgraded welding room and exterior, enclosed fire escape at a cost of $566,153.
Bishop Gallagher and E.Q. Jennings also saw $149,600 in upgrades to the gym floors. According to Chiodo, these upgrades are all in the interest of health and safety for students and staff.
“The parking lots, there is always the risk of tripping and falling,” she said. “In the gyms, if the floors aren’t done properly, they could get hurt. The fire escape at St. Pat’s didn’t meet code, so we had to update that.”
St. Ignatius High School and Pope John Paul II are also undergoing a $546,533 upgrade to student areas.
“Two other projects we are quite happy about that are not related to health and safety but are more for student programming are our two libraries, one at St. Ignatius and one at Pope John Paul, we are adding a culture room to both those areas for our students,” Chiodo said.
The projects are chosen in consultation with the schools and usually planned at least one year in advance. Chiodo said they are not anticipating any delays and all upgrades should be complete by the start of the school year.
One project Chiodo expects to begin next year are upgrades to the exterior of St. Ignatius High School.
Chiodo added that renovations and upgrades to school facilities are common throughout the summer and there are no major projects underway such as new schools or additions.
“We’ve always spent a lot of money on updating,” she said. “We do get money from the ministry. All our schools are in good repair and just having a healthy and safe learning environment is key to everything.”
“We do get funding for school renewals and school condition improvement funding and it’s enveloped, so that means we don’t necessarily have to spend it in the year we fund it, we can carry it over from year to year, so we have a backup and we use it as part of our short-term and long-term planning.”
