Retrofits of two elementary schools may be some time off with a report now in the hands of public board trustees.
The Greater Essex County District School Board is looking at returning the two open-concept schools to traditional closed-concept layouts. The estimated cost of closing off those buildings would be close to $3-million.
Board Vice-Chair Ron LeClair says trustees are still reviewing details of the report.
"We got a costing on both of those, I just got that report at the beginning of the week so I want to go through it, it's quite complex. And its quite an expensive venture as you can imagine because it's not as simple as putting up walls"
LeClair says the numbers in the report need to be closely assessed:
"For Roseville we're looking at approximately $800,000 and for Sandwich West Public School you're looking at approximately $2.1-million in the report," he says. "Having said that there may be some elements that need to be done anyway as normal upgrades and upkeep."
LeClair cautions that kind of expenditure won't be coming soon.
"The board is challenged with capital spending we have a lot of high urgent needs in the neighborhood of $122-million, so I don't want to be overly optimistic that we're going to get these addressed in a short period of time."
LeClair says among the more challenging aspects to work out are the heating and ventilation systems as well as making sure there's proper exits once the open spaces are closed in.
— with files from AM800's Gord Bacon.