Construction begins to renovate the old Chicopee High School

Updated Posted 
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The old Chicopee High School is shown on the last day of classes before closing in 2004.(REPUBLICAN FILE)
CHICOPEE — The renovation project at the former Chicopee High School has started, now that school has dismissed for the summer.
As soon as school ended on June 26, employees for the general contractor Fontaine Brothers, of Springfield, were beginning preliminary work for the job, said William Zaskey, chairman of the Chicopee High School Renovation Committee and a City Councilor.
“They are beginning construction on the fourth floor and moving down,” Zaskey said.
The city this summer is starting the about $39 million project to renovate the century-old high school and convert it into a middle school. The state is reimbursing 80 percent of the costs up to a $38 million cap. There are concerns that there is an about $710,000 amount over budget that the city may have to pay in total.
The contractor faces a completion date deadline of August 2015, so work has begun almost immediately, Zaskey said.
Currently the city’s two middle schools are located within a mile of each other on Pendleton Ave. and off Britton Street. When construction is complete, students will be redistricted and assigned to the school closest to their home. Fairview Veterans Middle will then be used as an elementary and preschool. Because of the redistricting and the shifting of schools, it is vital to meet the deadline, Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said.
Already utility work has been completed on Academy Street next to the old Chicopee High. The next step will be to remove asbestos from the building, Zaskey said.
The old school had been used by Chicopee Academy, which occupied parts of the first floor and the entire third floor. The maintenance department, food service program, school psychologists and nurses also have offices there, Rege said.
“The Academy is completely moved out and the maintenance department is at the telecom building,” Rege said.
Chicopee Academy will temporarily be housed at the former Belcher School, now called Southwick Street School, and the maintenance department has moved into the school’s empty Sophie Chmura Telecommunications Building off James Street.
The remaining offices are slated to be moved into part of the Chicopee Falls Library Branch, which is across the street from the school administration building on Broadway. But, legislators first have to approve the use, since the building was donated for the express purpose of being used as a library.
City officials are still waiting for approval, but Rege said he does have a “plan B” if legislators do not act soon.
There is some space for food services at the telecom building and psychologists and nurses will move in with Chicopee Academy students at Southwick Street School, he said.