After more than a year of dust flying and walls going up, construction at Central Junior High School is coming to a close.
“We’ve come a long way in a relatively short amount of time,” said Tony Ingold, superintendent of East Peoria School District 86. “I think we are very pleased with the project itself and how it turned out.”
The 53,000-foot expansion includes a new gymnasium, cafeteria, administrative offices, board room and a band and choir room.
And, in the next few weeks, Ingold said students and faculty will begin gaining occupancy in the new areas of the building.
Throughout the addition, everything appears to be in place, and the finishing touches are being made by the construction crews.
“The gymnasium is almost done,” Ingold said. “All of the bleachers are in, the floor is down and the audio system is being fine-tuned right now.”
The gymnasium has dramatically increased in size, Ingold added. Currently the old gym has only one side of bleachers, but now there are two.
“What our hope is, we will be able to house our larger events,” he said. “One of our largest events is our graduation for eighth grade, and currently we have to utilize the high school gymnasium for that.”
The new kitchen and cafeteria will also give the students more space, according to Ingold.
“Right now, they are cramped in their current lunch space,” he said.
In addition, kitchen staff will be able to better prepare lunches, which are distributed to other District 86 schools.
“With the satellite kitchen in mind, we made this kitchen a little larger,” Ingold said.
Among the other areas of the addition, the board room, administrative offices and band and choir rooms are complete. A fitness room and large group meeting space also are in place.
Ingold said local groups have already inquired about using the new addition at the school. For instance, Illinois Central College will host a training in the group meeting space, and the City Council met in the new board room last week.
“And that’s what we wanted to promote, that we were building a community-based facility,” Ingold said.
Even with construction winding down, Ingold said administrators are pursuing funding for a “phase two.”
“Our ultimate goal would be to complete the remainder of the junior high. This facility was built with possible growth in mind,” he said. “We are still in the running for funding through the school construction grant program.”
Ingold said the addition would include a new “student wing,” which would be built onto the existing facility.
“Seeing that light at the end of the tunnel, we’ve come a long way,” he said.
