$12 million in repairs at Dalewood school

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Dalewood Middle school was ranked third-worst in the province. After 67 years it’s undergoing a major renovation which went over-budget. While students and staff are thrilled with their new and improved school, the board of trustees is changing its policy to help prevent over-spending in the future.

“The renovation had a complete overhaul of the hallways. There is complete finish on the walls, new doors, brand new lockers which the students love.” Simon Goodacre, principal.

The cost to renovate this school is just over $12 million. It’s gone way over the estimated $9 million that was supposed to cover the reno’s but it would have only cost just over $7 million to replace the school.

“This was a very controversial decision back in 2012.” Todd White, school board chair. Turns out the the school was filled with asbestos.

“It went over budget. It did require $7 to $8 million in repairs. Those numbers were not false but there is a lot of site prep that is involved and that added several million to the price tag.”

No one even went into the school to actually assess the conditions before the quotes were made. Since then policy has changed and the the new board of trustees requires all buildings undergo a thorough inspection so that all of the costs can be added up ahead of time.

In June, the Ontario government announced a boost of $1.1 billion over two years to repair schools. The full renovation is expected to be complete in the next few months, that means Dalewood will no longer be the third worst school in the province. But the Hamilton board says 21 of the 108 schools are in poor condition and need more money from the province to fix them.