By Debbie Adams
The William Byrd High School Renovation and Expansion Project continues to move forward. According to Todd Kageals, Director of Facilities and Operations for Roanoke County Public Schools, “the classrooms are scheduled to be ready by the opening of school this fall.”
Tim Greenway, Vinton’s representative on the School Board, says “they will be finishing up a few items after the new school year begins.”
Currently the library/media center which will become the guidance area, is undergoing massive renovations. In the auditorium, lights and sound have been renovated with new curtains on the way. Outside, new lights are being installed for the football field.
Greenway, a William Byrd alumnus, says, “It is looking amazing, especially the entrance foyer. That was the part where I wanted some particular work done. It’s the area we as seniors would have the privilege of hanging out at various times during the day. I love the way it turned out.”
Renovations got underway in the late spring of 2021 on the $30.7 million project.
William Byrd was built in 1969 and has had some piecemeal renovations in the years since; however, this renovation project is more extensive and involves the first and second floors of the building, entailing some 100,000 square feet with roughly 13.500 square feet of additions.
The goal of the design/build team from Avis Construction and Hughes and Associates Architects & Engineers has been to make the Vinton school “look and feel like a new school without building a new school; to make the Byrd facility more cohesive, modern, and up-to-date, to look like a school that was built all at the same time.”