Cathedral High School in Springfield received extensive damage in the June 1 tornadoes.
The damage to Cathedral High School can be seen in this photo taken in June.
06.01.11 | SPRINGFIELD - Cathedral High School's science wing. [Photo by Mark Murray | The Republican]Two empty floors of an academic building at Springfield Technical Community College and a vacant school in Wilbraham are being considered as locations to house students from Cathedral High School and St. Michael’s Academy middle school.
Cathedral High School, on Surrey Road, was seriously damaged in the June 1 tornadoes. The nearby St. Michael’s Academy elementary school building was undamaged.
Because of the extensive damage, Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell announced the high school and middle school, which occupied Cathedral, must be moved for this year.
Monday, the Springfield Technical Community College Board of Trustees voted to authorize president Ira H. Rubenzahl to negotiate a contract with the diocese, said Jeffrey D. Poindexter, a Springfield lawyer and a trustee.
It would allow the school to lease the two top floors in Building 20, which is at the corner of Federal and Pearl streets, Rubenzahl said.
But Rubenzahl and Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the diocese, said moving the school to the college is not definite.
“STCC is one of a small number of sites that is under consideration,” Dupont said. “We have asked a number of places to take simultaneous actions so we will be able to move ahead.”
He confirmed Memorial Elementary School in Wilbraham is another possible location. The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District is expected to discuss the lease of school property in closed session Wednesday.
Dupont did not release other possible locations. Officials have promised parents they will decide by Friday.
He said no location will be large enough to house the more than 400 high school and at least 250 middle school students in the same place.
“It is a difficult decision. With all buildings under consideration, there are pluses and minuses and we have to weigh them very carefully,” he said.
The Memorial School in Wilbraham, just before East Longmeadow students moved into it in February.Wilbraham’s Memorial School was closed in June 2010 but it has been leased by East Longmeadow officials since February after heavy snow caused structural problems at Mapleshade School. Mapleshade School is to be repaired for September.
Springfield Technical College’s Building 20 has 38 classrooms and additional offices, but work will have to be done on the floors, Rubenzahl said.
Several years ago the college removed asbestos in the building and never replaced floor or ceiling tiles ripped out during the work.
“It has classrooms and bathrooms but it will need floor coverings and drop ceilings and lighting,” he said.