Dear BSD Community,
Now that the final steel beam of the BHS/BTC project has been put into place (see below), it’s time to take a look INSIDE the building! Check out this virtual tour focused on accessibility, flexible classrooms, natural light, a connection to the outdoors, and spaces for gathering and community building.
After watching the video, you can find more updates below or on the project webpage. It’s important to know that we remain on budget and on track to open in the Fall of 2026! Thank you for your continued support of this project.
In partnership,
Tom
Last Steel Beam! Earlier this month, Whiting-Turner and Burlington School District (BSD) raised the final steel beam of the new high school and technical center into place. About 100 BSD students and staff joined Whiting-Turner and the construction crew for the event, alongside Superintendent Tom Flanagan, Board Chair Clare Wool and student representatives, and Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak. We shared our thoughts about the achievement and our hopes for the future.
Stormwater Project and Tree Clearing – As shared in the video above, we will soon begin work on a substantial stormwater mitigation project to support our new building. (This work and other site-wide stormwater improvements are being supported by nearly $2 million in grants from the State of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and Congressman Welch.) The process will involve cutting the large area of trees directly west of the track and field to make room for this tiered system. Once complete, the system will work to filter out sediments from runoff water coming from the site, slowing it down before it enters the surrounding wetlands and lake. While it is always hard to watch trees come down, the overall environmental impact will be a positive one for the lake ecosystem.
Furniture Sample furniture and products from five different furniture dealerships will begin arriving at DtBHS in the next two weeks. The sample furniture/products will remain in the building for use by teachers, staff, and students until December. A survey system will allow users to provide comments on each of the furniture/product pieces. Those results will help the development team determine which manufacturers and product lines to pursue this spring.
Doors and Hardware – We have narrowed down some small but important details regarding the type of classroom door hardware and other things like the type of paper towel dispensers we will install. Some of these dispensers will be recessed into the walls in an effort to be less vulnerable to vandalism. The door hardware will have an easy-to-see indicator that will tell you if the door is locked or unlocked when you are in the room, an important feature to have when in a lockdown situation.
PCB Reimbursement – In August, the state approved an additional $2.94 million of funding for reimbursement of PCB-related expenses. Once paid, we will have received $13.8 million of the $16 million appropriation. To date, we have only received reimbursement on amounts paid to our demolition contractor. We will now be submitting expenses resulting from the work of our environmental consultants. Based on representations from the Department of Environmental Conservation, we anticipate receipt of the full $16 million when the reimbursement process is complete.
Track and Field – This project is separate from our building construction project, but we are excited to report that the project is almost complete! We are just waiting for the track to cure (harden) and we anticipate the new complex to be fully open this coming spring! As a reminder, we started setting money aside for this project in 2021 with the hopes of being able to complete a renovation without a bond, which we were able to do!
