Several projects have been completed during the summer just in time for the beginning of the school year at Lambton-Kent public schools.
Superintendent of business for the Lambton-Kent District School Board Brian McKay says there was a lot accomplished over the summer in preparing for the 2016-2017 school year.
"We completed projects in 10 of our schools for a total of $10-million in total construction costs," says McKay. "That was all funded from the 2015-2016 budget."
The four major projects that took place were at the Chatham-Kent Secondary School, the Wallaceburg District Secondary School, the Indian Creek Road Public School, and the Victor Lauriston Public School.
McKay says they'll also be making plans for future renovation during the school year.
"We spend the school year in plan maintenance for the board, planning out how we're going to spend our money the following summer," says McKay. "Then [we'll] basically go through the design and tendering process."
An agreement between the school board and the municipality is also in the works to install a trail and outdoor fitness centre at the Lambton Kent Composite School in Dresden.
"We've received a draft agreement from the municipality and we're just working with them to finalize that agreement," says McKay. "Once it's finalized then we would look forward to move with the implementation of that trail, which does involve that fitness equipment."
Here's a list of the renovations that were done at the four major project schools:
Chatham-Kent Secondary School
McKay says there was about $1.1-million spent in renovations to the roof, gym and parking lot.
"We put a new rooftop air handling system in, so that's basically a mechanical upgrade to the building," says McKay. "Something we're really proud of there is the gym renovation."
McKay says the gym received new floors, new ceiling tiles, LED lighting, and new bleachers.
In addition, the school received a freshly paved parking lot on the east side of the building with LED lights.
Wallaceburg District Secondary School
McKay says the school received renovations to their library and fitness room - which was roughly $1-million.
"We also completed a partial roof replacement and we were involved with the community there on a project for handy capped accessible washrooms for the Sydenham pool," says McKay.
Indian Creek Road Public School
The Chatham school received a $1.3-million mechanical upgrade.
McKay says the upgrade involved adding an AC ventilation system to the building.
"[We also installed] LED lighting to half of the school," says McKay. "And we also did a classroom refresh upgrade to eight of our classrooms there."
Victor Lauriston Public School
McKay says the school received a $1.2-million roof replacement, which covers about 90% of the roofing area.
In addition, asphalt has been replaced over the playground and there were some structural reinforcements done as well.