The construction surrounding Community High School is likely to be a familiar sight to any who have seen the building these past few months. The construction workers have been making repairs to the air-conditioning systems, expanding classrooms and enhancing infrastructure. So far, they have completed upgrades to ventilation and infrastructure on the third floor, and upgrades throughout the rest of the building are underway.
Although the project is phased carefully to have as little impact on CHS staff and students as possible, some classes have been affected. During the early months of the school year, the music room (118) has seen the greatest impact.
“We had to move out of our Jazz room over the summer, so that we can leave that open for [construction] to replace the air conditioning ducts and ceiling and everything in there,” said Jack Wagner, the jazz teacher at CHS. “And so that was a big, big deal, trying to get all of that packed, organized, and safely packed away.”
Wagner feels his teaching has been affected by the room change caused by construction.
“I’ve had to be patient with myself as I need to locate certain things," Wagner said. "In the middle of class, if something breaks, I gotta go find the replacement part for it and so that’ll slow me down a little bit."
The students have felt some burdens from having a new room as well.
“I think they’re upset that they don’t have the acoustic piano," Wagner said. "Like they don’t have the things available to them that [they] normally would have. But for the most part, I think they’re just happy to be here to play together and so it’s not been too bad.”
Fortunately, construction in the music room is likely to end in mid-November, and Jazz will be able to move back to their old space. However, the current issue of disrupted classes will continue to impact the rest of the school as the construction phases through the building.
Students should also expect the construction zones to move around as the year progresses. This means everyone’s vigilance and attentiveness will be required for the remainder of the school year while inside the building.
The construction manager at CHS advises students and staff to “be aware and stay out of construction zones.”
At the beginning of the year, construction was in phase two out of five; the first phase included upgrades to ventilation and lighting on the third floor.
As the school year proceeds, the following steps are to continue: infrastructure expansion on the first and second floors and development will shift from the northside to the southside of the 1st floor, closing off the southwest staircase in January of 2022.