THUNDER BAY – The centrepiece of a major renovation project at the city’s remaining south side public high school will not be completed by the start of the coming school year.
Lakehead District School Board officials on Tuesday confirmed the combined cafeteria and auditorium addition to Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute will likely not be ready until the start of the second semester in January.
David Wright, the board’s superintendent of business, said the expansion had been targeted to cost $7.5 million but additions to the scope of the project and higher estimates have led to a price tag closer to $10 million.
“The bulk of the work will be done for September,” Wright said.
“Students will be ready to attend classes and all the program functioning will be open, with the exception of the dramatic arts classroom and the new cafetorium. By and large, the school will be ready Sept. 1 for all the kids to attend.”
The renovations are a piece of the board’s south side school renewal plan that includes the closure of Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute. About 400 students from Churchill are expected to relocate to Westgate in September, bringing the school’s population to at least 1,150.
Wright said the conversion of the existing cafeteria will be held until the cafetorium is complete.
“That was always the contingency plan,” Wright said. “The existing cafeteria was going to be the last thing we were going to be renovating. Eventually it will be an exercise and fitness classroom but we left that knowing perhaps the cafetorium would not be ready and open to serve students in September.”
Other upgrades inside the existing building are expected to be ready for the start of the school year.
“We’re doing some work in the tech shops. We’re actually reclaiming a tech shop that was an exercise room. We’re putting some new equipment into our tech shop,” Wright said. “We’re making an addition to the staff room because there will be a significant number of staff coming over from Churchill.”
There will also be significant work done outside of the building, including the creation of a student drop-off on Gordon Street, renovations to parking lots and an extension of the staff parking lot.
