NORMANDY, Mo. — Normandy Schools Collaborative Facilities Director Randy Shipley and Principal Nakia Douglas say the $26 million renovation project at the high school is long overdue.
"The high school campus hasn't seen a project of this size in many years," Shipley said.
"The campus will be 100 years old in two years, but kids really needed new spaces that were reflective of the jobs and the careers that they're going to have in the future," Douglas said.
Construction began in the West Hall last summer, where they renovated classrooms for their career-focused courses and a new cafeteria.
"We have students who are learning business, culinary sciences, fashion design in that space at that time," Assistant Principal Dustin Stockmann said.
Currently, the East Hall is shut down as they transform it into their humanities building.
"Social studies, foreign language, English but also with a lower commons area that will have a home feel so the students will be able to have some place after school that's safe and secure for them," Stockmann said.
"Restrooms, hallways, stairwells, classrooms, we expect when kids re-enter East Hall, it's going to look totally different to them," Shipley said.
For added security, they're connecting all of the buildings together to limit access into the school.
"The secure campus connector is going to be about a 25,000 square foot building. It's going to be a single-point entry for all students. It's going to help students and staff feel safer," Shipley said.
"We're going to be adding in some new STEM classrooms in there for our aviation, computer science," Stockmann said.
This was all made possible by voters who supported the Proposition V no-tax-increase bond issue last year.
"We'd really like when the next proposition comes through if the community would just support us and take a look at what we're doing and the progress that we're making, and if they could just lend us their support we would be overjoyed," Douglas said.
Students and staff are temporarily sharing space in the Central and West Halls of the campus while they finish up the connectors and the East Hall renovations.
They expect this project will be finished in March of 2023.