Nearly a third of the schools in the Lambton Kent District School Board have undergone a renovation or upgrade over the summer.
Director of Education John Howitt said crews have been busy replacing HVAC systems and roofs, doing washroom renovations, painting, classroom refreshes and installing new playground equipment.
"At Northern Collegiate and Vocational School, the west side facade has been renovated, which impacts the cafeteria, library, there are new windows and a new canopy main entrance," said Howitt.
Construction is still underway as students at Great Lakes Secondary School begin their first year at the new consolidated Murphy Road location.
"The gym has a new floor, that is all set and already, there's a brand new weight room so physical education classes can go forward," said Howitt.
The sports field at Great Lakes Secondary School is available and accessible by students and staff.
Howitt said the board's projected enrolment of 21,775 total students has not changed.
"That's 14,583 elementary and 7,192 secondary," he said. "Of course we won't know exact data until all of our students arrive and we clean that data up."
Howitt said over half of the 111 teachers issued redundancy notices in April have been called back.
"That number has improved to about a total of 54 full-time equivalent positions we will be down, that's primarily around declining enrolment, retirements and some resignations and some employees transitioning through other roles," he said.
