Construction ongoing in Lake Shore, Lakeview districts

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Both the Lake Shore and Lakeview Public Schools districts will experience ongoing construction in their buildings at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

Lake Shore Schools
Rodgers Elementary School will get several updates to its building including the addition of an early childhood center, an adult education center and an administrative center. These three organizations will be located at the front portion of the elementary building.

“One of the hallmarks of the bond project is to separate this building essentially into two,” Lake Shore Schools Superintendent Joseph DiPonio said. “It’ll still be physically connected but it will be separated in terms of purpose.”

Currently, administration is located at the North Lake High School building next to Kennedy Middle School.

Construction work is also ongoing in the elementary school with amenity upgrades and improvements.

A big change for parents, staff and students due to the construction is the drop-off and parking lot portions of the building. The bus loop for this school year will move and kids will be dropped off before a concrete corridor students walk through to get to the building.

Safety and security have been prioritized as the construction team moved through the process, DiPonio said.

He said the district received a $1.25 million grant from the state of Michigan. The money has been a big help due to rising costs of materials and other things that have been needed.

“That really knocked down the cost to our community in terms of getting this project done,” DiPonio said.

Temporary walls have been set up to prevent students from accessing certain areas of the school and students will be moving through some parts that already have ongoing construction work. All hanging wires and extra materials will be gone for the safety of the students.

All construction workers who enter the Rodgers Elementary School building have been screened, DiPonio said.

Construction started in the spring. At the time of the interview, DiPonio said the Rodgers Elementary School side of the construction would be done by the beginning of the 2025 school year.

The early childhood center and adult education areas will be done by the beginning of the 2026 school year.

DiPonio said parents were given information about the construction in the spring and regular communication started before the beginning of the school year.

“We just need everyone to come with a very patient and calm mindset with this,” DiPonio said.

Lakeview Public Schools
Lakeview High School is getting a new addition. Construction started in the spring of the 2023-2024 school year.

Lakeview Public Schools Superintendent Karl Paulson said it is the last addition to the buildings. He said all four elementaries had classrooms added to their buildings as well as office complexes. The new high school addition will have high ceilings, areas for larger meetings, sports training and a new elevator to go to the second floor of the building.

Paulson said the multipurpose rooms will now have space for their cheerleading and dance teams to train.

“What they’ve been doing is doing it on the stage in the auditorium after school because the ceiling is, you know, the auditorium stage is high,” Paulson said.

A few classrooms at around 1,000 square feet with divider walls will be added as well. The divider allows two classrooms to become one classroom. Paulson said larger meetings with more than 70 people could be held here.

“Most of the time, those (meetings) were happening in the cafeteria,” Paulson said. “Well, now 70 people can be in this space.”

The rooms will have access to technology. This allows sports teams to view video and whole teams can fit in the area.

Paulson said construction will be done in the middle of the school year. During the previous year, the area was closed off to students and they will not have access to it until construction is complete.

“The kids are used to it,” Paulson said.