School walk through

By the main entrance, McBride said the administration office should have windows into the hallway so students could look into the offices and for building administrators to view the main entrance.

Modern school buildings have that feature, he said, but district officials have preserved the original floor with the school’s crest in the main entrance. Around the corner, a room that used to be a closet was renovated into the business department office.

Inside a business classroom, window air conditioning units keep the room cool and a corner of the room has servers and wiring.

“What you see a lot of in this building, because we’re trying to connect modern and old, and jerry-rigging things, you see a lot of mechanicals hanging,” McBride said.

Farther down the hall from the business classroom, the foyer built in the 1930s still has the original wood paneling, ceiling and stain glass windows.

The school was built in a square shape, with the middle forming a concrete courtyard. Within the courtyard, there is a cylinder-shaped building, built in the 1950s, that holds classrooms and the library, with the bottom floor now used for storage, McBride said.

One thing the district is considering, McBride said, is putting a clear roof over the courtyard. But it would cost between $9 million to $12 million just to install, and a design concept would have to be created, he said.

The district’s two important programs: Lockport Academy, an alternative placement for students with individualized education program needs, and the Career and Community Connections, for students with special needs to help them transition to work post graduation, are housed at Central Campus and quickly outgrowing their spaces,

McBride said.

In the Lockport Academy space, in the basement, students walk through windowless hallways to get to class and the teachers work in windowless offices. To get to the entrance for the program, the students walk through a back gate and a side entrance. Nearby, there is a space that used to house an auto shop that the district uses for storage, McBride said, which could potentially be used to expand the academy space.

“It’s a tight space for students with alternative needs. Could you open it up, brighten it up, could you have a proper entrance?” McBride said. “Are we sending the wrong signal to some kids who are pretty fragile.”