Currently, about $440,000 has been spent on the upgrades, with $40,000 being provided in emergent funding through the Ministry of Education for the work.
Kevin Garinger, the Horizon School Division’s director of education, said they expect to spend another $100,000 to complete the work through a second phase, which has yet to go through the tender process.
“It was the little school that made due and it’s an amazing place, but now it’s such a major upgrade,” Garinger said.
“We’ve done a whole lighting upgrade, we’ve redone every classroom in the entire school, resituated the office, built a new entryway – which is really amazing.”
Other completed modifications include new flooring and moving the library so it has direct access to the main entrance to allow the community to have access outside of school hours. Within the classrooms, furnishings have been replaced including cupboards and cabinets.
“The classrooms themselves are like modern classrooms now. They used to have chalkboards in a lot of them still, so it’s quite a shift.”
Garinger said the second phase will be largely focused on the washrooms, but will also include some additional painting.
“We need to do more and we need to put in a wheelchair accessible washroom as well, we don’t have any in that school,” he said. “The school is an old school, so there isn’t a gender neutral [washroom].”
While the school itself has been part of the Division for a number of years, this is the first year where the Division owns the building after acquiring it in May.
Previously, the Horizon School Division rented the property from the village for $24,000 per year, and as a result, the village paid the upkeep and operation through municipal taxes.
The Village of Englefeld met in January, voting to change the agreement and sell the property for $1, but should the school ever close operations the village will gain the ability to buy it back for the same price.
This was after the division expressed difficulties moving forward with the planned renovation while the property was not under their ownership, as well as missed opportunities for grants that estimated a total at about $40,000 per year.
The gym remains joint-use, allowing the space to be used by the community for meetings, weddings, funerals and more.
“The town did amazing things, a lot of it they relied on in-kind support and that sort of idea. Now that it’s under the school division we can use PMR (Preventative Maintenance and Renewal) funding to keep the building up.”
The second phase has the hopeful completion goal set for Christmas, although Garinger said it will likely take until spring before it can be completed.
“This renovation really speaks to the voice of the students because in the last two or three years our school survey that we’ve conducted have shown a need for a space for students to gather,” said Corinne Harcourt, Englefeld’s principal.
She added that through the renovations they’ve been able to address that with a student lounge.
Still in the planning stages, Harcourt said the renovation celebration in November will be open to the public. It is planned to include tours of the facility and a community presentation on the school’s playground equipment fundraiser.
