West Aurora drops idea of adding 4 classrooms to high school
The renovation plan for West Aurora High School has been changed, cutting about $1.2 million from its expected cost.
Gone is a plan to add four classrooms along a new corridor connecting two wings. The corridor is to relieve congestion in hallways during passing periods.
Administrators decided the rooms are not needed. Instead, the district plans to spend about $100,000 reconfiguring existing rooms, including the library, to create some smaller, flexible learning spaces, spokesman Tony Martinez said.
Construction on the connecting corridor and a new field house will begin once school lets out this spring. Work on adding a black-box theater may begin earlier, Martinez says, because part of it is in an area that won't affect students. Locker rooms are also due to be renovated, and a geothermal heating and cooling system is being installed.
The whole West High project should be finished by November or December of 2017, he said.
In 2015, voters approved borrowing $84.2 million for construction and renovations throughout the district. The district has about $120 million worth of things it wants to do to buildings. One of the major projects is building a replacement Hill Elementary School.