The ongoing construction in the 500 wing started in early June, and is expected to be finished around December, according to Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mike Mathiesen.

 “If you peek through the fence, you’ll see that the exterior walls are all gone, so we’ve completely gutted it,” Mathiesen said.

 New roofing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is being installed, as well as new windows. On top of this, a new gender neutral restroom and room for dance classes are being built as well, according to Mathiesen.

“[Dance has been] in the portables for four years now, and it’ll be nice to have a permanent foundation for them,” Mathiesen said. 

However, the construction timeline is still to be determined according to Mathiesen.  

“A lot of our projects recently have been delayed by material shortages and delays, and so it could [be] pushed into January [or] February,” Mathiesen said.

Even so, assistant principal Marti McGuirk stated that construction has been ahead of or on schedule almost every time.

“When we’re done with the 500 wing, we’ll move teachers back in there, and then we will go to the 100 or 200 wing, and fence that off and do similar things [such as] new windows, roofing, lighting, that starts the classroom expansion project,” Mathiesen said. 

The next construction project will mainly impact the science classrooms. The internal hallways in between rooms will be removed, giving more space for student occupation, Mathiesen said. The teachers in the classrooms will move into the portables or 500 wing, or a combination of both. 

“[I’m] excited to see these projects come to a completion. Building the 700 and 800 wings was a big project, and that was the first in our overall program… It’s exciting and gratifying to see completion, and allow students to use it,” Mathiesen said.