The community wing — the first phase of the new Agawam High School construction — is on schedule to be ready for students and staff in January 2027, following the Christmas break.
Reminder Publishing photo by Mike Lydick
AGAWAM — The community wing of the new high school is on schedule to reach “substantial completion” in December according to Mayor Christopher Johnson in his recent report to the School Committee on the progress of the project.
“It’s amazing how much work happens even in a week on site,” Johnson. He told the committee the plan is for students and staff to begin using portions of that wing — the first phase of the new building to be completed — in January 2027, following the Christmas break. “Likely, the only portion of the community wing that will not be operational when we go in in January will be the auditorium,” he said.
The mayor, who also serves as chair of the committee, said the reason is because the auditorium has a lot of “very delicate equipment” and it was decided not to risk damaging that equipment by bringing it in during the active construction portion. Johnson added that the existing auditorium will be fully operational until the new auditorium is ready — likely in February or March.
Johnson showed computer-generated images of the interior and exterior of the new school, including aerial views. One image showed a view of the plaza — the main entrance to the community wing — looking from Mill Street.
He explained that near that entrance will be a screen that can display images or anything generated by a computer. “This is an area to gather around the entrance,” said Johnson.
On the second floor of brick structure portion of the community wing will be a small gymnasium as well as the main gymnasium. In the main gymnasium, pads on the wall will alternate between orange and brown while the bleachers will be brown. The perimeter of the floor will be orange on each end.
The main gymnasium also will feature a new electronic banner system on one wall. Johnson said banners from the existing gymnasium will not be coming over to the new one. “Instead, we’re going with a system. All of the dates and so forth from the existing gymnasium will come over as far as the Western Mass. and state championships, etc. — as part of a of a new banner system,” he said.
Also on that level will be the second floor of the cafeteria with a small café. “I think that’s probably one of the nicest spaces in the new school,” said Johnson as he showed an image of the café. The main cafeteria is on the first floor and features wood highlights and a “tray” ceiling.
The edge of the community wing construction is where the current gymnasium is now. When it becomes operational, demolition will begin on portions of the existing high school. The community wing initially will be the gymnasiums through to the cafeteria and down the hallway toward the offices a little way, said Johnson.
“We’re working on getting the exact point at which they’re going to sever the building, so to speak,” he added. There will be a temporary covered connection between the community wing and the current classroom wings. The rest of the building will be demolished when the academic wing is done.
Johnson showed a rendering of what the interior of a typical pod in the academic wing will look like. The center of each academic pod will have a two-story open area — a congregation space
Along with the academic wing construction, Johnson said the industrial arts wing will be severed from the building and renovated to become the new Early Childhood Center. Both the new academic wing and the ECC space will be done as part of the second phase. They are scheduled to be finished and occupied by September 2028.
The last construction phase will be the demolition of the balance of the existing building and construction of new athletic fields to the north of the property. There will be a second artificial turf field, two softball diamonds and an area for track events, such as discus and javelin.
