Update: Winooski School District Capital Project
Construction for the Winooski School District Capital Project is expected to be completed by Thanksgiving. Photo by Ivy Kirby.
A multimillion-dollar renovation to the Winooski School District campus — including a new performing arts center and playground — is expected to be completed this fall, the district says.
“We are expecting a fully functional building when students return after Thanksgiving break,” district communications director Gabby Hora said.
The renovations are part of the district’s capital project that kicked off in August 2020, originally funded by a $57.8 million dollar loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The old building for the school district was aging poorly, with insulation issues, an outdated air system and a light system that “likely does not meet current energy codes,” according to the school district website.
The price tag shifted this month when the district’s board of trustees on Oct. 12 closed on a $55 million loan to be paid back over 30 years. The dollar amount went down because the project cost less than anticipated. Winooski taxpayers, this is a victory: The project will cost the community $16.9 million less in the long term, according to a VTDigger article from July of 2022.
The project has allowed for the creation of an entirely new performing arts center, a new playground, a new cafeteria and more. The entire campus is expanding — the project has also added a new gym and doubled the capacity for the pre-K program, according to the school district website.
The front entrance of the school hasn’t been open because of the construction, but the facilities have remained open to start the school year.
The project has faced some setbacks over the last two years, Hora said. She said that pandemic-induced labor shortages and supply chain back-ups delayed how quickly the district could stand up the new buildings.
This new campus will serve 850 students, from pre-K through 12th grade.
The original Winooski High School was built in 1957, with JFK Elementary being added in 1964. The first wing of the school to be built with insulation in the walls came in 1976, along with a metalworks shop and a multi-purpose room. The newest addition was in 2000, consisting of a few new classrooms and more office space.
As the project falls into place, even the newest additions to the campus will be more than 20 years old.
Winooski is a fast-growing community, with many families being immigrants or refugees. In the 2016 to 2020 census period, nearly 15% of the city’s population was born outside the U.S.. That’s about 1,220 people in a city of about 8300, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The district is also incredibly diverse: Between 2018 and 2019, 28.4% of enrolled students were Black.
Sarah Raabe, the elementary school principal and a parent, said in a September letter to families that it is “very exciting to see the classrooms come together.”
Echoing that sentiment is Laura Lee, a parent of two students in the district and parent-teacher organization president. “Both kids see the excitement,” she said of her children.
Making clear that she was speaking just as a parent and not as an official, she said she looks forward to the dust of the project settling — when parents and students are able to return to fully normal routines.