With the construction of the school progressing amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the upstairs academic wing classrooms nearing completion, students and teachers now more than ever are wondering what will be next in the renovation of Westerville South High School.

According to ThisWeek.com, “Renovation of the second floor south academic wing is to be completed by December 2021.” Principal Michael Hinze said that the next area scheduled for renovation are the classrooms directly underneath the current rooms under construction in the southern academic wing.

Hinze further stated that “this phase of the construction will be the most disruptive stage of the process”. In order to get to the science wing from the first floor of the blue wing, one would have to go upstairs to the second floor, then go through the second floor of the southern academic wing and go down the staircase above the science wing.

Hinze also said that the next phase of renovations, phase 3, will begin in January of 2022 and end sometime around June; the end of this phase will mark the completion of the last academic wing of the school. Hinze added that these renovations will “allow the school to last another 50 to 60 years due to their open design and their friendliness towards modification.”

As far as what students can expect from these new classrooms, Hinze explained that the new classrooms will consist of many of the same features that already exist in the renovated classrooms. 

Hinze also added that teachers have enjoyed the practicality of the new classrooms as it pertains to the furniture and the conduciveness towards group work, while the students have enjoyed the copious amount of natural light and the color themes of the new sections that were suggested by the student body.

“The classrooms are bigger, more modern; they possess better technology, better lighting; they are more flexible,” Hinze stated. “They are easier to configure, easier to traverse for teachers and students. They look nicer, and they are more geared towards group learning.” Hinze added that the rooms also possess basic sanitation unlike some of the older classrooms that have walls slowly being covered by black mold.

These gains towards the completion of the school have been made amid the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The pandemic has created supply concerns and supply chain issues,” Hinze stated. “For example the school could not open on August 13 because the HVAC system needed a part that hadn’t arrived yet in order to function. Because we could not control the temperature in the new sections, we were not legally allowed to have school.”

Hinze added, “The delay on the opening of the cafeteria was due to a shipment of tiling adhesive that had not arrived, so the workers were not able to install the flooring of the cafeteria until weeks after the initial scheduled opening date.”

Hinze said that single crucial parts are not arriving on schedule and that everyone should all prepare for frustration in terms of the construction schedule.

Regarding the plans of the proposed peace garden in the courtyard next to the blue wing Hinze said that the Westerville Rotary Club is working to create a monument to all of the different languages spoken at Westerville South with the main planning efforts largely being left to the Rotary Club. According to ThisWeek.com, there is a picture of a waterfall on the outside of the glass wall of the blue wing that was taken by resident Fawaz Hamoui. ThisWeek.com further stated that the waterfall is a waterfall in Iceland called Seljalandsfoss and that it is a 197 foot drop.

According to SchoolDesigns.com, the completed phases of the construction have amounted to around $16.5 million, and the entire project will cost an estimated $38 million when completed. ThisWeek.com stated that the project is being financed in part by “a certificate of participation, this is a type of financing where an investor purchases a share of the lease revenues of a program rather than the bond being secured by those revenues.”