Late start, rain delay Ancaster High roof repair

A $2.1-million summer upgrade to Ancaster High School remains a diamond in the rough, with work on replacing the east wing’s leaky roof now expected to extend until the end of October.

Bob Avery, manager of facilities operations for the Hamilton public school board, said the $900,000 roof project started later than anticipated and has been delayed by rain or expected rain.

But he said the contractor has committed to leaving the roof in a waterproof state and work is being scheduled to avoid disrupting programs and classrooms.

While a leak is possible if it rains while a section of the roof has been torn off, it won’t shut down classrooms as occurred in January because of $450,000 in asbestos abatement over the summer in all classrooms and hallways in the east wing, he said.

“We have reasonable way to deal with that, which would just mean changing the ceiling tiles,” Avery said during a guided tour of upgrades completed to date.

“Before when we had a leak in the asbestos area, we had to be concerned about asbestos falling down, contamination of the room and the health and safety of staff and students in the building. This way all we have to worry about is a ceiling tile.”

Other east-wing upgrades this summer spent $250,000 to replace interior doors with new ones equipped with lockdown door handles and $380,000 to replace ceiling, lights and floor tiles.

New LED lights have made the wing noticeably brighter, but Avery said the full effect of the upgrades will become apparent when the hallways get a final makeover during the Christmas break that will include a fresh coat of paint on walls and lockers.

Elsewhere in the building, $100,000 in work repainted the main gym and will add new bleachers by early November, while Gym B’s floor is being refinished, a $20,000 job expected to be finished by Sept. 14.

School council chair Rhu Sherrard said she’s “quite impressed” by the school board’s response to the situation earlier this year, when the leaky roof closed six classrooms.

She said apart from allaying any health and safety concerns, the new look will improve school spirit.Education director Manny Figueiredo said he’s thrilled to see the benefits of some tough decisions by trustees, including to reduce the number of high schools to 13 from 18. That in turn has allowed the board to invest the operational savings in surviving schools, he said.