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HomeNewsArchivesALL SAINTS SCHOOL GETS QUICK OK TO MAKE REPAIRS

ALL SAINTS SCHOOL GETS QUICK OK TO MAKE REPAIRS

Aug. 29, 2001 – After conducting an inspection on Tuesday, Planning and Natural Resources Department officials approved plans Wednesday for repair work to begin immediately on the main classroom building of All Saints Cathedral School.
Expedited approval of the necessary permits will allow work to begin Thursday, and this is expected to make it possible for construction workers to complete the repairs in time for the school to open as scheduled next Tuesday.
"I was satisfied with the plans, and I'm approving them today," Brent Blyden, director of the Planning and Natural Resources Permits Division, said as he sat looking over the repair plans Wednesday afternoon.
Blyden inspected the classroom building at the Garden Street school on Tuesday along with school officials, engineers and construction contractors after his office had received a report of possible structural problems at the building, located just south of the school offices.
They found two problems:
– The concrete wall supporting an outside stairwell was buckling, and if left unrepaired, would eventually have had a structural failure.
– A beam supporting a wall was corroding in some areas where joists were attached.
The problems were not so severe that they posed any immediate danger, Blyden said, but they did need to be fixed. It would be possible to make the repairs in a few days, he said, but work would have to begin at once to get it done before students were to return to class. He reviewed the plans on Wednesday so work could begin Thursday, he said.
Alton Adams and Associates drew up the plans to repair the structures, and Reliable Construction was expected to begin the work Thursday, Blyden said.
The Rev. Canon Ashton Brooks of All Saints Episcopal Church, which operates the school, said Tuesday that the building had been properly inspected by the government officials and that the school was ready to move forward into the new academic year.
"All Saints Cathedral School will be ready as usual to continue on track serving the community of St. Thomas as an academic center," he said in a printed statement.
The school opened about 50 years ago at its current site. In February, All Saints embarked on an $11 million capital development campaign to build a new school on 6.5 acres of land being donated by the Harthman family in the Fort Mylner area. At that time, the target date for the start of construction was given as the end of 2002.

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