After years of effort and commitment, Cleveland High School should soon be remodeled. “This will be our last school year in this physical building. Next school year we will be at the Marshall campus,” said Principal JoAnn Wadkins.
The process it’s taken to get here has been anything but easy, but since voters passed the local bond measure in May, only a few more steps are necessary to ensure that by fall of 2029, the new high school will be fully finished and ready for the next classes of students.
One of the prominent struggles Cleveland has faced is that of the rising costs of materials and labor. In the past four months, the original estimation of $1.370 billion has risen to $1.378 billion – a notable difference, especially in such a short amount of time. If the cost changes so quickly, the remodel process of three years will surely face issues with costs.
In hopes of combating this, the designers spent time reworking their designs, and all aimed towards reducing the prices of remodeling for all three schools. These designs were presented Tuesday, Sept. 16, at a school board meeting, and while they didn’t lower the costs an extreme amount, there has been improvement compared to the last set of layouts.
“This is now my personal opinion – whereas in the short run, that may be expensive, but in the long run, it should save maintenance costs and energy costs for PPS because of the investment upfront,” said Wadkins.
While all three schools have in common that their remodels require lots of money, of all three schools being remodeled – Jefferson, Ida B Wells, and Cleveland – Cleveland High School is the only one planned for students to vacate the school during the remodel process and go to the Marshall campus instead.
Surrounding Cleveland you can find signs surrounding the border lines of the school displaying the reconstruction plans. These signs state the official plans and details going into the reconstruction to inform students and locals of the plans going forward.
Principal Wadkins said that the signs are there because they are “indicating that we’re like a development zone, to let the community know that project’s moving forward and that this is going to become a construction site.”
There has been some uncertainty on whether or not the remodel will actually happen this time, as there have been many setbacks along the way, but when asked if she had any concerns on the renovation not happening, Wadkins said, “I thought it would be highly unlikely, because voters voted for a bond that specifically talked about the modern setting aside money for the modernization of three schools. So at most, I would say there could be, you know, we’re hoping they’re not going to be any delays.”
It seems almost certain that the remodel will begin next year, and Cleveland’s students will attend on the Marshall campus. Although the process is set to take three years, the result sounds promising, and Wadkins said, “It’s going to be very stunning, it’s a very exciting design.”
