ALBANY, N.Y. (April 14, 2018) -- Construction of the new and improved Albany High School officially got underway Saturday at a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the start of the project’s first phase.

Elected officials, community leaders, students, parents and residents joined City School District of Albany Superintendent Kaweeda G. Adams, Board of Education President Sue Adler, Mayor Kathy M. Sheehan and others to mark the event on a chilly spring afternoon.

“As we break ground today on the first phase of our comprehensive project to expand and rebuild Albany High School, it is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the progress we have made, and to rejoice in anticipation of all of the progress still to come,” Adams said. “For Albany High School. For all of our students. And for our entire community.”

Voters approved the project in February 2016. Construction and renovations will take place in four phases. Plans call for the project to be fully finished in 2024. Phase I – a new three-story, 120,000-square-foot academic building – will be completed for the start of the 2019-20 school year.

“The school will be stunning. Our children and community deserve this fine facility, and we are thankful to our entire community for supporting this project,” Adler said.

There will be three additional construction phases, beginning with Phase II next spring. That work will include a new building for art and music classrooms. Future phases will enclose the school’s courtyard, fully renovate the current three-story academic building and add new learning spaces for Albany High’s career and technical education programs, currently located two blocks away from the main campus at the Abrookin Career and Technical Center.

Other renovations to the 44-year-old school will include completely replacing the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, adding a new 200-seat balcony to the auditorium and creating new space for physical-education classes, including elevated jogging lanes in the main gym.

When the project is completed in 2024, the 378,000-square-foot school (including Abrookin) will be expanded by about 250,000 square feet. The plan was designed to serve the district’s growing student population. Albany High currently has about 2,500 students and enrollment is projected to grow to about 3,000.

“Our community has made a significant investment in the future of education in our city through its support of this project. We are deeply grateful for that,” Adams said. “Because we know that investment is not just about the bricks and mortar of new facilities.

“It is about the undeniable glow that our students and staff will have when they find themselves inside these remarkable new facilities. That uplifting feeling that says: ‘My community supports me. My community values me. My community believes in me.’”