J.W. Walker renovations on track

Some local people were given a sneak preview of the work being done at J.W. Walker School last night as the renovations near completion.
Trustees, teachers, board staff, parents, and the press were invited to tour the new facility with Raymond Roy, the Rainy River District School Board’s superintendent of plant operations and maintenance.
“The work is approximately 80-85 percent complete,” Roy said at last night’s regular monthly board meeting following the tour. “Our completion date of June 15 is still quite realistic.”
The tour started with the new main entrance on Keating Avenue, which boasts a vaulted ceiling.
The new gymnasium is located immediately on the right, with Education Director Warren Hoshizaki noting this would be the first real gym the students at any of the four schools would ever have access to.
Neither Alexander MacKenzie, Sixth Street, Alberton, or J.W. Walker had had proper gymnasiums.
The new gym, which is only slightly smaller than the one at Robert Moore School, features a stage and basketball nets. The flooring has not been put in, but it will have a foam backing to act as a cushion on students’ feet.
The school will have a new library, with large windows and a bright orange wall.
The kindergarten classrooms have their own exits to their own fenced-in play areas, as well as their own washrooms. And an elevator has been installed to make the school accessible to all students, and all classrooms will be equipped with audio/visual equipment.
Dry-erase boards have been installed instead of chalkboards, and some walls already have been painted bright colours. Every classroom features a series of large windows to allow for natural light.
As the group toured the two floors of classrooms, workers from Finn Way continued work on the ceilings and floors.
Roy told the board the flooring should be finished in the next two weeks while the outside work should begin this week, providing the weather co-operates.
“I was really impressed,” board chair Dan Belluz said. “The entire building has been redone and it’s quite impressive.”
Roy said furniture for the new school will be ordered shortly, adding everything should be in place well before school resumes in the fall.
Also at last night’s meeting, the board discussed a letter from a local resident requesting the name of J.W. Walker School not be changed when it re-opens.
“Whenever we open a new school, it’s always up for consideration,” Hoshizaki said of the possibility of a name change, but he stressed no such motion had been made thus far.
Hoshizaki also said board policy requires public consultation before such a decision can be made.