There’s a big change for students, staff and others going to Bridgeport High School starting today and into the foreseeable future. The main entrance to the front side of the school is now officially off limits.

 

While BHS Principal Mark DeFazio doesn’t know how long that’s going to be the case, he also knows that it’s not a permanent change. And he also knows it’s for a good reason.

 

“We’ll have a new access point for an extended period of time as we replace the canopy at the side of the school,” said DeFazio. “You’ll still be able to get into the school from the front side, but not from the places you could in the past.”

 

The entrance, if facing the school from Johnson Avenue, is the door to the left on the front side. Not only will that be the entrance, but DeFazio said it has a temporary security camera and access control installed until the work is complete.

 

Last week, contractors began the demolition portion of the project. By Tuesday, the old canopy that had plenty of holes in it – leading to small flooding issues underneath – and had seen better days was gone. Although not part of the original building that was open to students in 1963, DeFazio said it was decades old.

 

Contractors will begin installing the new canopy in short order, according to Harrison County Board of Education Director of Maintenance Joe Ammons. Recently, Ammons said the near $100,000 replacement will not mimic the previous v-type panel that was in place. Instead, the new canopy will provide function, durability and better look.

 

Ammons described the new canopy as a flat structural panel that will look better even when viewing it from underneath. The layout will be similar, but the front side will be much more aesthetically pleasing, said Ammons.

 

City Window and Construction is handling the project, while MSES Consultants designed it. The Harrison County BOE is funding the project as opposed to it coming from dollars in the school’s own financial line item.

 

The contract calls for a project time frame of 42 calendar days. Ammons said he doesn’t think it will take that long.

 

“I would say as far as working weeks, if you get three solid weeks of time to work on this the contractor should be complete,” said Ammons recently to Connect-Bridgeport.

 

Ammons said the new canopy will hold up better to ice and snow that often built up on the one just removed. He said some problems related to the canopy that was just tore down was weather related, but most of the issues were a result of the structure’s age.

 

Editor's Note: City Window workers remove the old canopy, while the rendering of the new canopy is shown below.