By Mackenzie Meaney
Special to the Voice
With the opening of a new school year just weeks away, a plan that has been discussed, fought over, and finally approved is nearing its completion date, set for next year.
The West Haven High School seen today is not the same as the one that has been there in the past.. As the community awaits its brand new, state-of-the-art high school to be completed, Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro shared some of the details on the high school’s construction progress, and where it is headed.
“All of the new construction is done,” Cavallaro says. Now, it’s more of a matter of refurbishing and renovating the school, the classrooms and other spaces in the school in order to make them fit for 21st century learning.
Landscaping outside of the school will look different as well. Cavallaro notes that there will be a loop for school busses placed in the former footprint of the old gymnasium.
The former front of the school is completely demolished, a task just completed last week. The new front will face the student parking lot. Cavallaro also says officials will be opening up the new gymnasium, science wing, and several classrooms prior to the start of school. The A-wing, which is the old gym, will also be torn down before school opens in the fall.
Since most of the construction has already been done, teachers have already had a chance to get acclimated with the new parts of the school. Teachers are allowed into their classrooms up to three weeks before school starts, which will give them ample time to set up their spaces to accommodate their class’s sizes.
As a whole though, the high school is “65-75 percent done,” Cavallaro notes. Their construction timeline is still on schedule, and school is still expected to be done in the fall of 2022.
The end of construction, next year, will mark the end of a 13-year story for Cavallaro and the Board of Education. First announced in 2009, the project met with several obstacles in the early going, including costs and, to some’s mind, the need for a new construction. Several millions of dollars had been put into the old building, which opened in 1964.
Once the decision was made to use a cut-and-replace method on the same site, the problem of financing the project was faced. The city needed a special act of the General Assembly to gain a 70 percent rebate from the state after deadlines were missed.
During that process, several plans, revised plans and new plans had to be reviewed, costing the city millions with architects. Finally the present plan was accepted at a total cost of $130 million, with the state picking up most of the cost.
The first opening was last year as the initial entrance, media center, cafeteria, and auditorium were ready for students.
Is the pool part of the demolition and a new one built, the present pool is outdated and should have a real deep end 12-13 feet. This would a much better pool for compitition, would be faster.