The start of the school year will be here soon for many area students. But some may have to deal with ongoing construction, including those at the Erie County Technical School.

Matt LaVerde, the Director of the Erie County Technical School provided a progress report on their renovations on Tuesday, "We're moving into phase three of the renovation, which is this wing that we're standing at. As you can see, they're starting to demo it. Phase two was supposed to be completed at the end of summer, but we're still working on that. Phase one was kind of last summer and fall, and we're still completing some of that. So it hasn't been the smoothest ride."

Phase one included their culinary institute and auto tech room. Phase two included their design and draft room, their carpentry area and their welding space. Phase three will include updates to the graphics media, art and design for business and computer programming labs.

Although behind schedule on the renovations, they are seeing an increase in enrollment and interest in the trades field. As LaVerde explained, "People are excited about the skilled trades. They're excited about careers in tech education and they're seeing there's alternative pathways. Then you know, directly into high school, to college. Our kids can still go to college and they can take half their day and learn a skilled trade and get industry recognized credentials and stuff on their way to that."

Even with a few bumps in the road, staff are still excited for the upcoming school year. "Our teachers are coming in this end of this week and our students are coming next Tuesday and we're going to make the best of it as best we can", said LaVerde.

The original completion date was supposed to be December of 2023, but it has gotten pushed back to March of 2024 with a few remaining projects expected to be done next summer when students aren't in the classroom.