Renovations set for Chesapeake's Crestwood middle

CHESAPEAKE

Crews will begin installing a new heating and air-conditioning system, lighting, and ceilings in Crestwood Middle School in March, School Board members learned Monday night.

The project will cost about $3.1 million and is scheduled to be finished by February 2009.

In the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, the 56-year-old school needs more than $32 million worth of construction and renovations.

Money is not available for all the work, so officials decided to start with the most pressing need.

The existing heating and cooling system "is antiquated and repair parts are no longer available," said Richard MacDonald, director of school plants. The window and roof units were installed in 1988 and are expensive to maintain.

Starting in March, students will be moved out of the building in groups of about 200 and taught in 10 portable classrooms. Partitions will help limit noise.

The school will still need an addition and renovations once the system is in place. In the latest proposed capital improvement plan, that work is slated for completion by 2012-13.